NEW YORK — Jonathan Toews broke his playoff goal drought as the Chicago Blackhawks staved off elimination with a 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings in Game Five of the National Hockey League Western Conference semifinals Saturday. The top-seeded Blackhawks reduced the series deficit to 3-2 against the seventh-seeded Red Wings with Andrew Shaw scoring twice and captain Toews grabbing a crucial goal. Chicago's Bryan Bickell opened the scoring late in the first period when he was on hand for a third rebound after Jimmy Howard saved two separate quick fire Chicago shots. The rebound theme continued, but this time for the Red Wings, when Daniel Cleary buried the puck from a difficult side angle midway through the second period to tie the scores. Shaw then stole the lead back for the Blackhawks with a deflection from a Brent Seabrook shot in the power-play and the home side was able to kick on from there. Toews produced a critical two-goal buffer with a power-play goal late in the second period before Shaw completed the scoring with a wrap around goal seven minutes into the final period. “We had to play desperate, it was an elimination game and very important,” Shaw said. “The guys came out hard and now we have to carry the momentum into Game Six.” The Boston Bruins, meanwhile, booked a place in the National Hockey League Eastern Conference Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins after clinching their series against the New York Rangers with a 3-1 win in Game Five also Saturday. The fourth seed Bruins closed out the series 4-1 against the sixth seeded Rangers to set up the showdown with the top-seeded Penguins for a place in the Stanley Cup Finals. It is their first trip back to the Eastern Finals since the 2010-11 season where they went on to win the Stanley Cup. Boston fell behind after Dan Girardi scored a power-play goal in the opening period but 22-year-old Torey Krug continued his strong post-season with a power-play goal of his own after three minutes of the second period. It was Krug's fourth goal in his first five play-off games and sparked the Bruins into action. Gregory Campbell snapped the tie with a goal 10 minutes later and he added a second goal in the dying seconds of the game when he managed to backhand the puck into an empty net despite being hooked right before the attempt. “It was a tough series. They played hard and they are really similar to us,” Campbell said. “It was a physical series and most games could have gone either way but we fought hard.” Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask saved 28 of 29 shots. — Agencies
