Capitals eliminate Rangers

Capitals goalie Michal Neuvirth (30) stops the puck against Rangers left wing Sean Avery (16) during the second period.

WASHINGTON — Mike Green, Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin scored, and the Washington Capitals advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 3-1 win over the New York Rangers in Game 5 on Saturday.

The top-seeded Capitals won the series 4-1, the first time they have finished off a team in fewer than seven games since 1998.

This was also the Capitals’ first playoff series under Bruce Boudreau that didn’t go the distance. He had led Washington through four seven-game series — winning only one — since becoming coach in 2007.

Green scored on a power play in the first period but later left the game after taking a puck off the helmet. Ovechkin scored his third goal of the series in the second period, and Semin tallied in the third.

Wojtek Wolski scored for the Rangers in the game’s final minute.

Lightning 8, Penguins 2
PITTSBURGH — Steven Stamkos scored the first two playoff goals of his NHL career and Tampa Bay emphatically avoided elimination by routing Pittsburgh in Game 5 of the first-round series.

Stamkos’ 96 goals over the past two seasons led the NHL, but he had only one assist over the first four games of the series. He had three points on Saturday.

The Penguins, who lead the series 3-2, will get a second chance to advance Monday night at Tampa Bay.

Simon Gagne and Pavel Kubina both scored their first two goals of the series, captain Vincent Lecavalier added his second of the series, and Martin St. Louis had two assists for the Lightning, who set a franchise record for goals in a road playoff game and handed the Penguins their worst home playoff loss.

The road teams has won four consecutive games in the series.

Pittsburgh’s Mike Rupp and Chris Conner scored in the third period after Tampa Bay had taken a 7-0 lead. The Penguins are 0-5 under coach Dan Bylsma when they have the chance to eliminate an opponent at home.

Bruins 2, Canadiens 1, 2OT
BOSTON — Nathan Horton scored at 9:03 of the second overtime to give Boston a win over Montreal and a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

Montreal goalie Carey Price stopped Andrew Ference’s wrist shot from 30 feet but couldn’t control the rebound. Horton put his second goal of the playoffs into the open right side of the net.

It was Boston’s second overtime win in three days, and the Bruins’ third consecutive win in the series. The road team had won the first four games. The Bruins can end the series in Game 6 on Tuesday night in Montreal.

After two scoreless periods, Brad Marchand gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 4:33 of the third period. Jeff Halpern tied it at 13:56.

KINGS 3, SHARKS 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Jonathan Quick made 51 saves to help Los Angeles hold on to a big lead that Kyle Clifford and Wayne Simmonds helped provide and the Kings beat the San Jose Sharks in Game 5 to remain alive in their first-round series.

Dustin Penner added his first goal in more than a month in a big first period for the Kings, who cut San Jose’s lead in the series to 3-2 by bouncing back after a pair of home losses put them on the brink of elimination.

The Sharks outshot the Kings 52-22 but failed to end the third all-California playoff series in NHL history at home. San Jose will try to wrap up the series in Game 6 on Monday night in Los Angeles. The series would come back to San Jose for Game 7 on Wednesday night, if necessary.

The Kings knocked out Antti Niemi with three goals on their first four shots in the first 8:42 of the game and didn’t fall apart after that as they did in Game 3 at home.