Boston Bruins sweep the Montreal Canadiens

Former Montreal forward Michael Ryder scored twice and assisted on David Krejci’s goal to help the Boston Bruins complete a four-game sweep of the Canadiens with a 4-1 victory Wednesday night at Montreal.

Tim Thomas made 26 saves, and Phil Kessel also scored for Boston, which won the Eastern Conference quarterfinal for its first playoff series victory in 10 years.

The top-seeded Bruins had lost five straight series -- including losses to Montreal in 2002, 2004 and 2008 -- since beating Carolina in the first round in 1999.

Montreal completed its 100th season with eight straight losses, including its last four regular-season games.

at New York Rangers 2, Washington 1 -- Henrik Lundqvist made 38 saves, half of them in the second period, and the seventh-seeded Rangers put the Capitals on the brink of elimination.

Lundqvist, who posted a 1-0 shutout win in Game 2, was on top of his game all night as the Capitals controlled play from the second period to the end -- outshooting New York 39-21. But it’s the Rangers who hold a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

at Calgary 6, Chicago 4 -- Eric Nystrom scored off a rebound with 6:56 remaining and the Flames even the best-of-seven Western Conference series at 2-2.

Nystrom also had two assists, Olli Jokinen had two goals and an assist, Jarome Iginla completed a two-goal game with an empty-netter, and Adrian Aucoin added a goal for the Flames.

Jokinen ended a 16-game goal drought with his first career playoff goals and first goals in Calgary since his trade from Phoenix at the March 3 deadline. Miikka Kiprusoff made 28 saves for his second straight victory, while Nikolai Khabibulin turned away 22 shots for Chicago.