Caps catch up to pesky Leafs

Washington coach Barry Trotz tried Tom Wilson on his third line, and it paid off in a big way.

Wilson scored twice and saved a goal from his own net, and the Capitals beat the Maple Leafs, 5-4, last night in Toronto to tie their first-round playoff series at two games apiece.

“I think it’s that time of year, there’s been some fabulous heroes, not always the ones that you think are going to be there,” Trotz said. “Obviously the big names are always there, but I just think he played the right way today.

“He’s a growing young player who is physically very strong and he’s grown to be a good penalty killer and his game continues to grow. Real happy for him.”

T.J. Oshie also had two goals and Alex Ovechkin scored his third goal of the playoffs as the top-seeded Capitals regained momentum with the series shifting back to Washington for Game 5 tomorrow night. Braden Holtby made 30 saves.

“I think we got our heads on straight right now on how we want to play and unfortunately it’s taken us a couple games to get there,” Oshie said. “So we want to improve on tonight and get even better, but I think tonight was a right step breathing-wise and it could be the same next game.”

Wilson also scored the overtime winner in Game 1. The Toronto native had seven goals in 82 games this season.

Zach Hyman, James van Riemsdyk, Auston Matthews and Tyler Bozak scored for Toronto, which was coming off a 4-3 overtime win on Monday night. Frederik Andersen stopped 22 shots.

Wild 2, Blues 0 — Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves, Charlie Coyle scored in the first period and visiting Minnesota avoided elimination with the victory against St. Louis Blues in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series.

Dubnyk’s second playoff shutout came almost two years to the day of his first, also against the Blues on April 20, 2015. Martin Hanzal also scored for Minnesota in the second.

Blues goalie Jake Allen made 26 saves. He entered having stopping 114 of the Wild’s first 117 shots in the series.

St. Louis still leads the best-of-seven series 3-1 heading into Game 5 at Minnesota on Saturday.

Ducks 3, Flames 1 — Patrick Eaves and Nate Thompson scored 1:08 apart in the first period and visiting Anaheim held off Calgary to finish off the four-game sweep of their first-round series.

After Sean Monahan cut the deficit in half with apower play goal for the Flames in the second period, Ryan Getzlaf’s empty-netter with seven seconds left iced it for the Ducks.

Elsewhere in the NHL — Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl was fined for spearing the San Jose Sharks’ Chris Tierney. The NHL department of player safety had a hearing with Draisaitl before fining him $2,569.44, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement.

Draisaitl received a major penalty and game misconduct when he hit Tierney in the groin with his stick in the second period of Edmonton’s 7-0 loss Tuesday night in Game 4 of a Western Conference first-round series that’s even entering tonight’s Game 5 in Edmonton. In the regular season, Draisaitl had just 20 penalty minutes. . . .

If Buffalo Sabres coach Dan Bylsma’s job is in jeopardy, star forward Jack Eichel’s representatives insist their client is not the one pushing for a change.

Whether Bylsma returns for a third season won’t have any effect on the 20-year-old Chelmsford native and Boston University product negotiating a contract extension this summer, Peter Fish and Peter Donatelli told The Associated Press.