Blackhawks advance in NHL playoffs

Marian Hossa scored twice to back a strong effort by goalie Corey Crawford, and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Minnesota Wild 5-1 Thursday night to win their first-round NHL playoff series 4-1.

Chicago is moving on in the postseason for the first time since the championship run in 2010, and will face either San Jose or Detroit if the Red Wings get past Anaheim.

The way the Blackhawks have dominated, anything less than a trip to the Stanley Cup finals would be a disappointment for them.

They got off to a record start and captured the Presidents’ Trophy for finishing with more points than any other team.

Penguins 4, Islanders 0: Tomas Vokoun stopped 31 shots in his first playoff start in six years and Pittsburgh beat visiting New York in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series.

Sidney Crosby, Tyler Kennedy and Douglas Murray scored during a 7-minute stretch in the second period and Kris Letang added a power-play goal in the third as Pittsburgh moved a step closer to advancing to the second round. The Penguins lead the series 3-2.

Senators 6, Canadiens 1: Craig Anderson made 33 saves and Cory Conacher scored twice on a shaky Peter Budaj as Ottawa advanced to the second round of the playoffs with a rout of the Canadiens in Montreal.

Ottawa took the best-of-seven series 4-1 and put a punctuation mark on its dominance in moving on for the first time since 2007 when the Senators lost in the Stanley Cup finals to the Anaheim Ducks.