Written by the AP at USAToday.com
The big moments were never too big for the Anaheim Ducks in their playoff series win over the Calgary Flames.
When Calgary threatened to gain momentum, Anaheim’s leadership and poise prevailed to carry the Ducks to a four-game sweep of the Flames in their best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal. Anaheim ousted Calgary with a 3-1 win Wednesday night.
“Any time you can put a team behind you, you definitely want to take advantage of it,” Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf said.
The Ducks now have the luxury of rest and recovery ahead of their conference semifinal. They await the series winner between the Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks tied at 2-2.
“We move onto the next one and we know that it’s only going to get tougher,” said head coach Randy Carlyle, who turned 61 on Wednesday.
Calgary was the first team eliminated from this year’s playoffs.
Patrick Eaves and Nate Thompson scored for the visitors on their first five shots of the game, with Getzlaf adding an empty-net goal.
Carlyle started John Gibson again after replacing him in the second period of Game 3 with Jonathan Bernier. The return on that vote of confidence was Gibson’s 36 saves.
Sean Monahan scored his fourth power-play goal in as many games for Calgary.
It was a short night for starter Brian Elliott, who was pulled for Chad Johnson after giving up a soft goal at 5:38 of the first period. Anaheim scored on Johnson 68 seconds later in his NHL playoff debut. He finished the game by turning away 20-of-21 shots.
The Ducks opened the series with a pair of 3-2 wins at home before storming back from a three-goal deficit to win 5-4 in overtime Monday.
The Flames outplayed them the majority of Game 2, but a lucky deflection and a couple of undisciplined minors by Calgary late in the game allowed the Ducks to pull out the win. Trailing 4-1 late in the second period in Game 3, the Ducks score four unanswered goals en route to their biggest comeback in franchise history.
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