Gibson helps Ducks sweep Flames
CALGARY, Alberta -- The Anaheim Ducks scored a pair of early goals and hung on for a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday at the Scotiabank Saddledome to sweep their way into the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Patrick Eaves, Nate Thompson and Ryan Getzlaf (empty net) scored for the Ducks, who won their Western Conference first-round playoff series over the Flames, 4-0.
Goaltender John Gibson made 36 saves to redeem himself after being pulled during the second period of Anaheim's come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the Flames in overtime two nights earlier.
The Ducks play the winner of the series between the Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks, who are tied 2-2, in the second round of the playoffs.
Sean Monahan scored for Calgary, which has lost seven straight games to Anaheim and 15 of 16 dating back to the second round of the 2015 playoffs, when the Ducks ousted the Flames in five games.
Brian Elliott started in net for the Flames, but was pulled after giving up a bad goal to Eaves at 5:38 of the first period. Chad Johnson stopped 20 of the 21 shots he faced.
Trying desperately to win in front of their hometown fans, the Flames outshot the Ducks 12-7 in the third period but weren't able to notch the equalizer. Getzlaf scored his third goal of the series into an empty net with 6.7 seconds remaining.
The Ducks had a couple early chances to open the scoring, but Elliott made back-to-back saves to deny a shot by Andrew Cogliano and the rebound attempt by Jakob Silfverberg.
He wasn't as sharp on Anaheim's third shot as Eaves turned and fired a shot from a bad angle that somehow snuck through his pads.
That prompted Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan to replace Elliott in net with Johnson, who stopped the first shot he faced, off the stick of Rickard Rakell, before Thompson swatted in the rebound to give the Ducks an early 2-0 lead.
The Flames outshot the Ducks 12-9 in the first but weren't able to beat Gibson, who made a nice shoulder save to stop a shot by Mikael Backlund before sprawling to make a pad stop to deny a point-blank attempt by Micheal Ferland.
Calgary continued to press hard in the second period, and the Flames were rewarded at 16:07 when Monahan batted a pass from Kris Versteeg out of mid-air past Gibson for his fourth power-play goal in four games.
NOTES: D Sami Vatanen missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury. ... RW Jared Boll and RW Ondrej Kase were healthy scratches for Anaheim, while D Cam Fowler is still out with a knee injury he suffered late in the season. ... C Curtis Lazar and LW/C Freddie Hamilton drew into Calgary's lineup in place of C Matt Stajan and LW/C Lance Bouma. ... D Dennis Wideman and G John Gillies were healthy scratches for the Flames. ... Ducks C Ryan Getzlaf had three goals and two assists, while RW Rickard Rakell scored twice and set up three others in the four games. ... Flames C Sean Monahan finished with four goals and an assist, while RW Kris Versteeg had a goal and three helpers in four contests.