April 19, 2017

The Ducks defeated the Flames 3-1 on Wednesday night in Alberta, sending Anaheim into the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after completing a four-game sweep of their best of 7 series.

Patrick Eaves, Nate Thompson, and Ryan Getzlaf scored, while John Gibson made 36 saves for Anaheim.  The Ducks will face the winner of Edmonton and San Jose in the next round.

“We just kept getting better each game and usually the team that gets better and stronger as the playoffs and series goes on usually has more success,” Gibson said. “We just want to carry the momentum with us. Obviously, stuff is not going to go our way sometimes. You just have to make sure to never get too high or too low.”

Patrick Eaves put the Ducks on the board at 5:38 of the 1st period, scoring a very soft goal against Flames’ goalie Brian Elliott.  Eaves sent a sharp-angle shot toward the net, which eluded the Flames goaltender.  Elliott was pulled after that and replaced by Chad Johnson.

Johnson gave up a goal on just the second shot he faced, just over a minute after entering the game.   Rickard Rakell was stopped by Johnson during a 3-on-2 rush, but Thompson jumped on the rebound to put the Ducks ahead 2-0.

The Flames cut the lead to 2-1 at the 16:07 mark of the 2nd period, when Sean Monahan scored on the power play.  Monahan scored 4 times in the series, with each one coming on the man-advantage.

Gibson and the Ducks withstood pressure from the Flames in the games final minutes, and Getzlaf scored into a an empty net with 7 seconds left in the contest.

The Ducks last sweep came against Winnipeg in the 1st round in 2015.  This one came on the birthday of coach Randy Carlisle, who turned 61 on Wednesday.

Anaheim will likely begin the second round on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.