Capitals beat Leafs to tie series at 2 games apiece

TORONTO - Tom Wilson and T.J. Oshie each scored two goals, and the Washington Capitals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Wednesday night to tie their first-round playoff series at two games apiece.

Alex Ovechkin added his third goal of the playoffs as the top-seeded Capitals regained momentum with the series shifting back to Washington for Game 5 on Friday. Braden Holtby made 30 saves.

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.

The Maple Leafs rallied after the Capitals scored four times in the first for a 4-1 lead. Bozak, who had the winning goal in Game 3, got Toronto within one with 26 seconds left, but Washington held on from there.

Senators 1, at Bruins 0: Bobby Ryan scored early in the third period, Craig Anderson stopped 22 shots and Ottawa beat Boston for a 3-1 lead in their firstround playoff series.

It was Anderson’s fourth career playoff shutout.

Tuukka Rask made 26 saves for Boston, which had a goal disallowed in the first when Ottawa coach Guy Boucher challenged and the replay showed Noel Acciari was offsides.

The Bruins, who were winless in four games against the Senators in the regular season, will try to force the series back to Boston with a victory in Ottawa in Game 5 on Friday night.

After back-to-back overtime games, this one remained scoreless until 5:49 into the third, when Erik Karlsson’s slap shot deflected off Rask to his stick side. Ryan pulled it from his backhand to his forehand and swiped at it as Zdeno Chara dove behind Rask into the crease to try to knock the puck away from the goal line.

Wild 2, at Blues 0: Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves, Charlie Coyle scored in the first period and Minnesota avoided elimination with a win over St. Louis in Game 4 of the 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.

A costly mistake by Allen set up Minnesota’s first goal. He went to play the puck behind the net and passed it right to Coyle, who buried the open look at 16:50.

Coyle’s second of the playoffs gave Minnesota its first lead of the series after 214 minutes, 38 seconds.

Ducks 3, at Flames 1: Patrick Eaves, Nate Thompson and Ryan Getzlaf scored, and Anaheim beat Calgary for a sweep of their first-round playoff series.

John Gibson made 36 stops for the Ducks, who will face the Edmonton Oilers or San Jose Sharks in the second round.

Sean Monahan scored a power-play goal in the second for Calgary, which qualified for the postseason as the first wild card in the Western Conference.

Late Tuesday

At Sharks 7, Oilers 0: Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture each scored two goals and San Jose rebounded from back-to-back shutouts in emphatic fashion, beating Edmonton to tie their firstround playoff series at two games apiece.

After being throttled by the younger and faster Oilers the past two games, the Sharks went back to the same successful formula that carried them to the Stanley Cup Final a year ago.

— Wire services