Roman Josi scored twice, Pekka Rinne had 30 saves and hosts Nashville Predators beat Chicago 4-1 Thursday night to complete a surprising sweep (4-0) of the Western Conference's top seed Chicago Blackhawks. "It's definitely a great feeling," Josi said. "I thought we played a great series. That's a great team over there. We've got a lot of respect for them. They've got some world-class players and I thought we played really well in all those four games." Colton Sissons also scored and Viktor Arvidsson added an empty-net goal as Nashville completed the franchise's first playoff sweep. Led by Rinne's shutouts in the first two games, the Predators limited the high-scoring Blackhawks to just three goals in 13 periods. Nashville will face the winner of the Blues-Minnesota series in the second round. Chicago became the first No. 1 seed to lose in the opening round since the Los Angeles Kings knocked off the Vancouver Canucks on their way to the Stanley Cup title in 2012. Chicago's second straight first-round exit followed a regular season in which the Blackhawks went 50-23-9 and recorded 109 points, the second-highest total in franchise history. It was the first time a No. 1 seed was swept in the first round since the NHL adopted its current playoff format in 1994. The Blackhawks had the best record in the Campbell Conference and were the Norris Division's No. 1 seed in 1993 when they got swept by the Blues in the opening round. That also was the last time the Blackhawks had been swept in a playoff series before Nashville's dominant performance. It was particularly sweet for Nashville after it was eliminated by Chicago during the Blackhawks' 2010 and 2015 Stanley Cup title runs. The Blackhawks also had gone 4-1 against the Predators during the regular season. "Now we've had a chance to redeem ourselves, a little payback," Rinne said. The Predators were billed as Stanley Cup contenders before the season after putting together arguably their most talented roster since the franchise launched in 1998-99. But they struggled through an inconsistent season that left them playing the mighty Blackhawks in the opening round. Now they are living up to their preseason billing — and have a veteran goaltender in peak form. Penguins 5, Blue Jackets 2 Sidney Crosby and Scott Wilson scored 51 seconds apart in the third period, helping host Pittsburgh eliminate Columbus in Game 5 of their first-round series. Bryan Rust scored twice for Pittsburgh, Phil Kessel added his second of the playoffs and Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 49 saves. The defending Stanley Cup champions will face the winner of the Toronto-Washington series in the conference semifinals starting next week. William Karlsson and Boone Jenner scored for the Blue Jackets, but Sergei Bobrovsky stopped just 27 of 32 shots to finish a forgettable series. Columbus trailed by three in the second period but had a potential tying goal waved off in the third for interference. Pittsburgh responded immediately. Crosby's one-timer on the power play restored a two-goal lead and Wilson's backhand less than a minute later finished off the Blue Jackets. Rangers 3, Canadiens 2 Mika Zibanejad scored at 14:22 of overtime to give New York a victory at Montreal in Game 5 of their first-round series. Chris Kreider's shot on a rush went off Alexei Emelin's stick right to Zibanejad for a shot into an open side. The Rangers grabbed a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series and will look to advance when they host Game 6 Saturday. Jesper Fast and Brady Skjei also scored for New York. Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves. Artturi Lehkonen scored and set up a goal by Brendan Gallagher in the first period for Montreal. Carey Price had 33 stops. — Agencies
