NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Colton Sissons scored his third goal with 6:00 left, ensuring the Nashville Predators' magical postseason now includes the franchise's first trip to the Stanley Cup Final after eliminating the Anaheim Ducks with a 6-3 win in Game 6 on Monday night.

The Predators, who've never won even a division title in their 19-year history, came in with the fewest points of any team in these playoffs.

Now they've swept the West's No. 1 seed in Chicago, downed St. Louis in six in the second round and then the Pacific Division champ in six games. Peter Laviolette became the fourth coach to take three different teams to the Final, and the first since the playoffs split into conference play in 1994.

The Predators will play either defending champion Pittsburgh or Ottawa for the Stanley Cup. Game 1 is next Monday.

Anaheim lost in the conference finals for the second time in three years.

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PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Penguins are one win away from a return trip to the Stanley Cup Final.

The defending champions pounced on the Ottawa Senators early in a 7-0 demolition in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals Sunday to take a 3-2 series lead. Sidney Crosby scored for a third consecutive game as part of a four-goal first period in which the Penguins twice chased goalie Craig Anderson.

Bryan Rust had a goal and an assist in his return from a concussion. Olli Maatta and Scott Wilson also beat Anderson in the first period. Matt Cullen scored his second of the playoffs, and Phil Kessel his seventh.

Matt Murray stopped 21 shots to win his second straight start following a six-week injury layoff. Game 6 is Tuesday night in Ottawa.

Anderson was pulled briefly after the Penguins went up 3-0 in the first and removed for good to start the second period. He stopped 10 of 14 shots he faced on his 36th birthday.

The Penguins appeared to hit their stride during a 3-2 victory in Ottawa on Friday night in Game 4, playing with the kind of speed and intensity that fueled their run to the franchise's fourth Cup last June. Still, they stressed the importance of finding a way to keep it going in a series that saw the teams alternate wins and losses through the first four games.

The momentum Pittsburgh generated did more than carry over. It crushed the Senators completely.

Rust watched Games 3 and 4 while recovering from a concussion suffered during an open-ice collision with Dion Phaneuf in Game 2. Coach Mike Sullivan placed him on the third line with Nick Bonino and Carter Rowney, and the impact was immediate.

Rust set up Maatta's opening goal by grabbing a loose puck in the Ottawa zone - a common occurrence during the Senators' nightmarish first period - then dropping it to Maaatta. The defenseman who scored just once during the regular season zipped home his second in two games 8:14 into the first.

The Penguins were just getting started. Crosby redirected Trevor Daley's shot past Anderson on the power play 12:03 into the first, and Rust did the same on a shot by Bonino with 3:56 left in the period.

Ottawa coach Guy Boucher briefly removed Anderson in favor of Mike Condon only to return Anderson about 90 seconds later. It didn't help. The player perhaps most vital to the Senators' first appearance in the conference finals in a decade let Wilson bank a shot from behind the goal line off him and into the net to make it 4-0.

Condon came on for Anderson in the second but it didn't exactly provide a jolt. Cullen scored off a centering pass from Mark Streit to make it 5-0 just 1:54 into the second and the Penguins kept pouring it on.

The Senators head back home on the brink of elimination for the first time in their postseason. They head home a little dinged up too. Defenseman Erik Karlsson, playing with a pair of hairline fractures in his left heel, sat out the last 25 minutes after colliding with Wilson. Forward Derick Brassard and defenseman Cody Ceci also skipped the third period, leaving the final 20 minutes as little more than a glorified exhibition.

NOTES: The Senators went 0 for 4 on the power play and are 0 for 29 in their last 29 chances with the man advantage. The Penguins were 3 for 3. ... Crosby's assist on Kessel's goal gave him 100 career playoff assists. He's the 22nd player in NHL history to reach that milestone. ... Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin played in his 141st postseason game, surpassing Jaromir Jagr for the most in franchise history. ... The Penguins scratched D Justin Schultz (upper body) and F Patric Hornqvist (upper body). F Conor Sheary was a healthy scratch. ... Rowney had three assists for Pittsburgh.

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OTTAWA, Ontario - Marc Methot, Derick Brassard, and Zack Smith scored in a 2:18 span midway through the first period to chase goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and the Ottawa Senators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on Wednesday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

Mike Hoffman opened the scoring 48 seconds in, and the Senators blew it open against the sluggish Penguins a few minutes later with the fastest three goals in team playoff history. Kyle Turris made it 5-0 late in the second period.

Sidney Crosby ended Craig Anderson's shutout bid with a power-play goal in the third. Pittsburgh has scored a goal in each game in the series, dropping the opener 2-1 in overtime and winning the second 1-0.

Anderson finished with 25 saves. Fleury allowed four goals on nine shots, and Matthew Murray made 19 saves in relief.

Game 4 is Friday night in Ottawa.

Hosting their first Eastern Conference final game in 10 years, the Sens came out flying. Hoffman got it going by capitalizing on Turris' shot that bounced awkwardly wide of the goal. Hoffman stuffed the shot, standing to the left of the goal, just between the post and right pad of Fleury.

Brassard got the first of three when he snatched Erik Karlsson's dump-in and swung wide of the Pittsburgh goal. Bobby Ryan eventually gained possession down low and found Methot with a crafty pass. While his initial shot was stopped, the rebound bounced off Penguins defenseman Ian Cole and into the net. It was the second goal of the playoffs for Methot after he went scoreless in 68 games during the regular season.

Brassard added his fourth of the postseason less than two minutes later, taking advantage of the Senators' offensive-zone pressure before slipping behind the aging Mark Streit for the shot that beat Fleury.

Streit was making his playoff debut for the increasingly battered Pens, who lost Justin Schultz and Bryan Rust to upper-body injuries in Game 2. Pittsburgh, which did get Trevor Daley back from injury, also remained without injured winger Patric Hornqvist as well as No. 1 defenseman Kris Letang, who's out for the season with a neck ailment.

Apparent miscommunication between the 39-year-old Streit and Cole led to Cole throwing the puck away shortly before Brassard's goal.

Ottawa, looking crisp and confident, finished the flurry 24 seconds after Brassard's goal, with Smith beating Fleury on a wraparound, chasing Fleury from the game.

In question now is whether coach Mike Sullivan turns to Murray, who helped deliver the Pens a Cup last season and was excellent in his first full NHL season, for Game 4 or goes back to Fleury.

The crowd was delirious throughout the one-sided win and all the more so when their team got under the skin of the Penguins. At one point late in the first, Dion Phaneuf leveled former Maple Leafs teammate Phil Kessel. Ryan came by with a shove seconds later as Kessel waved his stick in the air at the Sens winger in apparent frustration.

Towel-waving fans chanted Kessel's name and later cheered as Mark Stone mixed it up with Evgeni Malkin.

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ANAHEIM, Calif. - Nick Ritchie scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period, and the Anaheim Ducks roared back from an early two-goal deficit to even the Western Conference finals with a 5-3 victory over the Nashville Predators in Game 2 on Sunday night.

Jakob Silfverberg, Sami Vatanen and Ondrej Kase also scored while the Ducks cracked imposing goalie Pekka Rinne with a thrilling surge of four goals in less than 19 minutes. The Predators hadn't allowed four goals in any game during their excellent Stanley Cup playoff run before Anaheim finally got rolling for its sellout crowd.

John Gibson stopped 30 shots, and Antoine Vermette had an empty-net goal for the Ducks.

Ryan Johansen, James Neal and Filip Forsberg scored for the Predators.

Game 3 is Tuesday night in Nashville.

Rinne made 22 saves for the Predators, and faced relatively little adversity while steamrolling Chicago and St. Louis in the first two rounds on the way to the first conference finals in franchise history.

Two days after Nashville's 3-2 overtime victory at Honda Center in the series opener, Johansen and Neal scored in the opening 8:32 of Game 2.

The Ducks finally awakened at the prospect of their second straight 0-2 series deficit and replied with high-octane hockey - and a few fortunate bounces - that was too much even for Rinne, who hadn't given up four goals in a game since March 13.

Ritchie, the power forward making his first career playoff run, scored the winning goal in Game 7 against Edmonton. Four days later, he got his next major goal on an exceptional high shot that appeared to glance off Rinne's mask on the way in.

Anaheim hung on through a frenetic third period, surviving a few mad scrambles before captain Ryan Getzlaf got his third assist of the night on Vermette's empty-netter. The Ducks also got several good saves from Gibson, who has raised his level of play from the first two rounds.

Although Honda Center was much fuller and louder than it was for the traffic-affected series opener, the Ducks' knack for slow starts at home remained constant.

After Johansen scored on a breakaway just 4:18 in, Neal doubled the lead on a power play with one of the easiest goals in recent history, escorting the puck unimpeded into the net when Gibson completely lost sight of the play.

The now-familiar ominous hush fell over Honda Center, but the Ducks got going in an unlikely scenario. Anaheim's power play was scoreless in 21 straight attempts dating to Game 2 of the second round against Edmonton, but Vatanen beat Rinne cleanly with a slap shot for his first goal of the postseason.

Silfverberg evened it in the opening minute of the second period, cashing in Rickard Rakell's pass on the back side of Rinne for the ninth goal of the Swede's outstanding postseason.

The Predators took another lead when Forsberg cashed in a rebound of a breakaway by speedy Viktor Arvidsson, who had two assists.

The Ducks pulled even again on the first career playoff goal for Kase, the aggressive Czech rookie, who slipped a puck through traffic.

NOTES: The Ducks kept veteran Jared Boll in their lineup over several young prospects to replace injured F Patrick Eaves, who missed his sixth straight game. Boll, who is scoreless in four postseason games, had no goals and three assists in 51 regular-season games. ... Getzlaf has 18 points in the postseason, trailing only Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin (19). ... Mike Trout crossed Katella Avenue to support the Ducks for the second time in three playoff games. The two-time AL MVP homered and stole two bases while the Angels beat Detroit 4-1 earlier in the day.

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ANAHEIM, Calif. - Nick Ritchie scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period, and the Anaheim Ducks ended their streak of five straight Game 7 losses with a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night, advancing to the Western Conference finals for the second time in three years.

Andrew Cogliano scored the tying goal midway through the second period for the Ducks, who had blown a 3-2 series lead and lost a Game 7 on home ice in four consecutive seasons.

After a rally from an early deficit and a strong defensive performance to back John Gibson's 23 saves, the Ducks ended their ignominious streak and moved halfway to the franchise's second Stanley Cup title.

Anaheim will host the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of the conference finals Friday night.

Drake Caggiula got credit for a goal 3:31 into the first period for the Oilers, and Cam Talbot made 28 saves. Edmonton's first playoff run since 2006 ended with four losses in five games, but the Oilers' young talent seems certain to make them a major factor in the West for years.

The time is now for the five-time Pacific Division champion Ducks on the 10-year anniversary of their 2007 championship.

They showed grit and guile while bouncing back from a blowout loss in Game 6 and yet another early deficit in a seventh game, silencing the echoes of past winner-take-all events. Anaheim hadn't won a Game 7 since 2006, when they were still the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Ritchie, the 21-year-old power forward in his first playoff campaign, fired a beautiful wrist shot past Talbot on a pass from Corey Perry 3:21 into the third period. Ritchie's second career playoff goal put the Ducks ahead in a Game 7 for the first time in five years - and ahead of the Oilers for the first time in nearly 193 minutes since late in Game 4.

Captain Ryan Getzlaf ended a monster series without a point on his 32nd birthday, but he contributed to a stellar defensive effort against NHL scoring champion Connor McDavid, who went scoreless in Game 7 and managed just five points in the series.

Edmonton took an early lead when young Anaheim defenseman Shea Theodore curiously tried to carry the puck out from behind the Ducks' net and right in front of Gibson. Caggiula skated up and challenged Theodore, who appeared to whip the puck accidentally backward and past Gibson.

The now-familiar hush of fear fell over Honda Center, and it grew when Anaheim took a penalty late in the first. But the Ducks killed the power play spanning the intermission and then gradually increased their push.

Cogliano finally cashed in for the Ducks when he slipped in front of Talbot and hacked home his first goal of the postseason. Cogliano ended a personal 13-game playoff goal drought for the speedy ex-Oilers forward who hasn't missed a game in his entire 10-year NHL career.

Anaheim outshot Edmonton 16-3 in that dominant second period but couldn't take the lead. At least the Ducks didn't face a multi-goal deficit heading to the third for the first time during their five-year streak of Game 7 drama.

NOTES: D Oscar Klefbom returned to Edmonton's lineup after missing Game 6 with an upper-body injury. ... Anaheim was without two key injured veterans. D Kevin Bieksa missed his sixth straight game, while F Patrick Eaves missed his fourth straight game with a leg injury. The late-season acquisition has played in a Game 7 seven times in his career, most among the Ducks. ... Mike Trout and Garrett Richards crossed Katella Avenue from Angel Stadium to watch the game.

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NEW YORK - Erik Karlsson had a goal and an assist to help the Ottawa Senators advance to the Eastern Conference finals with a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers in Game 6 of their second-round series Tuesday night.

Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone scored in the first period to power Ottawa to a fast start, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau added an empty-netter. Clarke MacArthur had two assists, and Craig Anderson stopped 37 shots.

The Senators, headed to the conference finals for the first time since their run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007, will face either Pittsburgh or Washington in the next round. Their series is headed to Game 7 on Wednesday night.

Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider scored for New York, and Henrik Lundqvist had 22 saves.

The Rangers trailed 3-1 after two periods, but Kreider got them within one just 53 seconds into the third. He skated up the middle, went to his left and put the puck past Anderson for his third goal of the postseason.

New York outshot Ottawa 15-5 in the third but couldn't get the equalizer. Kreider had a chance a little over 5 minutes in, but didn't get a clean shot on a pass from Zibanejad as his attempt from in front trickled off his stick and was stopped by Anderson.

Lundqvist made some stellar saves late in the third, including a stop on Derick Brassard from the right side with 5 minutes left.

Pageau capped the scoring with 6.2 seconds left for his sixth of the series and seventh of the postseason.

Playing with a 2-0 lead, Ottawa was more aggressive to start the second period, outshooting the Rangers 6-1 over the first 7 minutes.

Anderson stopped a shot by Kevin Hayes and then smothered a follow attempt by Michael Grabner in front near the midpoint of the middle period.

Zibanejad got the Rangers on the scoreboard with about 6 1/2 minutes left in the second. He took a pass from Mats Zuccarello, skated in and beat Anderson on the glove side into the top right corner.

Karlsson then beat Lundqvist on the blocker side with 4:07 remaining to restore the Senators' two-goal lead.

The Rangers outshot the Senators 13-10 in the first, but trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes. New York had three power plays and more scoring chances, but Ottawa was aggressive on defense while blocking nine shots in the opening period, and whatever got past the defense was stopped by Anderson.

Hoffman got the Senators on the scoreboard 4:27 into the game. He got the puck behind the net and sent a pass out to MacArthur. He then went in front of the net and deflected a shot from Karlsson past Lundqvist for his fourth of the playoffs.

It came on the Senators' second shot on goal of the game and marked the first time Ottawa scored first in the series.

Anderson had to make a flurry of saves over the next few minutes, including tip attempts by Kreider and Rick Nash about 30 seconds apart.

Lundqvist also had a nice glove stop on a slap shot by Karlsson as he was falling to his left and into the goalpost.

Stone scored with 5:16 left in the first when he got a pass from MacArthur on the left side as he crossed the blue line, skated up and fired a shot past Lundqvist for his fourth of postseason. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault challenged the play for offside, but the goal stood after a review.

NOTES: The NHL announced the Rangers will face the Buffalo Sabres in the Winter Classic at Citi Field, home of baseball's New York Mets. Commissioner Gary Bettman made the announcement on television during the first intermission. ... The Senators were 0 for 2 on the power play, finishing the series 1 for 18 and falling to 6 for 41 in the postseason. ... The Rangers were 0 for 4 with the man advantage. They finished 2 for 24 in the series and 3 for 39 in the playoffs. ... The Rangers lost for just the second time in their last 10 in a Game 6 or 7.

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PITTSBURGH - Andre Burakovsky scored twice, Nicklas Backstrom got his sixth of the playoffs and the Washington Capitals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Monday night to force a Game 7 in their taut Eastern Conference semifinal.

John Carlson and T.J. Oshie also scored for the Capitals. Braden Holtby stopped 16 to send the series back to Washington for the deciding game on Wednesday night.

Jake Guentzel picked up his playoff-leading ninth goal and Evgeni Malkin added another 52 seconds later late in the third period to make the score look cosmetically better, but the Penguins were never in it. The Capitals controlled play throughout. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 21 saves and received little help in front him.

This is the fourth time the Penguins and Capitals will meet in a Game 7. Pittsburgh has won each of the three previous deciding games, the last in 2009 in Washington on its way to the Stanley Cup.

The Capitals appeared on the verge of another unceremonious exit at the hands of the Penguins going into the third period of Game 5. The Presidents' Trophy winners responded with a three-goal barrage over the final 20 minutes that extended their season.

The momentum carried over two days later and 250 miles northwest. Washington systematically dismantled the defending Stanley Cup champions, who looked listless as they struggled to generate any kind of sustained pressure.

Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan tinkered with his lines after Game 5, reuniting the "HBK" line (Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel) that played an instrumental part in the team's Cup run last spring. Sullivan also moved rookie Guentzel alongside Malkin and put Conor Sheary with Crosby.

Crosby was a nonfactor for a second straight game after sitting out Game 4 with a concussion. He took a nasty spill in the first period when he was slammed into the end boards head-first while he tangled with Carlson. He remained in the game but found little room to work.

Then again, neither did any of his teammates as Washington dominated on both ends of the ice. Pittsburgh's first shot in the opening 17 minutes was a 136-foot flip by Brian Dumoulin that made its way to Holtby. By then the Capitals already had a 1-0 lead on Oshie's shot from the right circle on the power play.

It wasn't unlike most of the first four games of the series, when Washington would control play for long stretches only to have Pittsburgh expertly counterpunch on its way to a 3-1 series lead.

This time, there would be no response by the Penguins. Pittsburgh had trouble executing even the simplest of plays. Defenseman Ron Hainsey went to boards to retrieve a loose puck in the Penguins end only to get checked by Burakovsky, who skated away with the puck and stuffed a shot past Fleury 6:36 into the second.

Holding two-goal leads in the postseason has been a tenuous proposition at best, with 13 times teams letting them away so far in the postseason.

Yet instead of simply trying to protect its advantage, Washington kept pressing. Backstrom flipped a wrist shot by Fleury 16 seconds into the third to make it 3-0 and when Carlson fired on past Fleury 11:17 into the third, the arena began emptying out, perhaps for the last time this season.

Game notes
Penguins D Trevor Daley did not play after getting hit by Washington's Tom Wilson in Game 5. Chad Ruhwedel filled in. ... Washington went 2 for 4 on the power play. The Penguins were 0 for 3.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Ryan Johansen scored the game-winning goal 3:15 into the third period, and the Nashville Predators advanced to their first Western Conference final in franchise history Sunday by beating the St. Louis Blues 3-1 to take the series in six games.

The Predators won their ninth straight playoff game in Nashville going back to last postseason.

Goalie Pekka Rinne made 23 saves and had an assist. Roman Josi had a goal and an assist, and Calle Jarnkrok added an empty-netter with 60 seconds left.

Nashville will play either Anaheim or Edmonton.

Paul Stastny scored for St. Louis, which fell short of a second straight conference final.

The Predators and Blues were tied through the first 40 minutes for a third straight game and fourth overall in this series when Johansen skated up the slot for a pass from Viktor Arvidsson and beat Jake Allen with a backhand.

Allen kept the Blues close as he had all series, stopping Filip Forsberg on a breakaway with 13:31 left. But Jarnkrok scored with a minute to go to clinch it, amping up Nashville's celebration.

The Predators got forward Craig Smith back for the first time in this series after he was hurt in Game 3 against Chicago in the first round. And the Blues got back left wing Alexander Steen, who missed Friday night's 2-1 win with an injury.

Nashville had Grammy winners Lady Antebellum sing the national anthem, and forward Kevin Fiala, who broke his left leg in Game 1, wave the towel to rev up the fans who were ready for the puck to drop.

The Predators weren't.

St. Louis took the first seven shots and went up 1-0 on Stastny's goal, a wrister just 2:04 into the game off assists from Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz.

Tarasenko's shot from the right circle hit off Rinne, then Stastny who knocked the puck in for the goal. The Blues even took the first two penalties of the game, and Nashville couldn't take advantage of the man advantage with sloppy puck-handling and too many turnovers.

It was the first even-strength goal the Predators had allowed in the first period this postseason.

The Predators needed only 35 seconds into the second to tie it up. Mattias Ekholm found Josi all alone in the right circle for a quick shot past Allen's glove. That gave Nashville defensemen nine goals this postseason, a franchise record.

Johansen, Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg came into this game having combined for only three points in this series after getting 15 in sweeping Chicago.

Johansen had an assist on Josi's goal, then scored his first goal of the series and second this postseason with Arvidsson getting his first point against St. Louis on the primary assist.

Notes: The Predators' only playoff series clinched outside of Nashville came in Game 7 in Anaheim to clinch their first-round series last year. ... This was just the third game this postseason Nashville did not score the first goal, and it was the Blues scoring first for a third straight game. ... Rinne has three assists this postseason.

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WASHINGTON - Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin scored 27 seconds apart in the third period as the Washington Capitals avoided elimination by beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 in Game 5 on Saturday night.

Nicklas Backstrom tied the score early in the third as the Capitals finally solved Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who allowed four goals on 32 shots. Washington's comeback spoiled the return of Penguins captain Sidney Crosby after a one-game absence due to a concussion.

Crosby had an assist and Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel also scored for the Penguins, who lead the second-round series 3-2 with Game 6 back in Pittsburgh on Monday night.

While Fleury struggled for the first time against the Capitals, Vezina Trophy finalist Braden Holtby had his best game of the series, stopping 20 shots. Andre Burakovsky also scored for Washington.

Even though players were loose at the morning skate facing elimination, the nerves were palpable inside the arena even before puck drop. When an early Capitals power play went nowhere and Hagelin made it 1-0 Pittsburgh 10:24 in, it got quiet fast - except for Penguins fans' derisive chants of ''HOLT-BY, HOLT-BY.''

Burakovsky pumped some energy back in with a psychologically important goal with 29.7 seconds remaining in the first period, his first of the playoffs. He earned a promotion to the top line because of his strong play in the series but scored back with the third line on a toe drag that bought him space and a shot that froze Fleury.

Hours after defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk bemoaned that ill-timed penalties were hurting the Capitals, a holding call on Nate Schmidt paved the way for another momentum shift as Kessel scored on the power play 4:20 into the second. The Penguins went into the second intermission with a lead having won 37 of 39 games in that spot during the regular season and all six in the playoffs.

It took an individual effort from Backstrom to begin Washington's stunning turnaround. The Capitals' top-line center carried the puck up the ice, executed a give-and-go with Burakovsky and beat Fleury for the tying goal at 2:49 of the third.

With the crowd buzzing again, Kuznetsov sparked more chants of ''FLEU-RY, FLEU-RY,'' by scoring the go-ahead goal from a sharp angle 7:20 into the third. It was his fifth goal of the playoffs and fourth in the series.

Ovechkin wasted no time making it 4-2 and making coach Barry Trotz look like a genius for dropping him to the third line as he wired a shot past Fleury at 7:47. Trotz talked about spreading offense throughout the lineup, and his flipping Burakovsky and Ovechkin allowed for Washington's first goal from its bottom two lines in five games.

NOTES: In addition to Crosby, Penguins RW Conor Sheary returned after being concussed Monday in a collision with teammate Patric Hornqvist. ... Capitals D Brooks Orpik appeared to shake his left hand after being slashed by Evgeni Malkin in the first period. ... The Capitals again dressed seven defensemen. ... Super Bowl winning Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien received a nice ovation from the sellout crowd when he was shown on the video boards.

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ST. LOUIS - Dmitrij Jaskin scored in his first playoff game this season, Jaden Schwartz got the game-winner and the St. Louis Blues topped the Nashville Predators 2-1 on Friday night to stay alive in their second-round series.

Schwartz scored 25 seconds into the third on a rebound off a Colton Parayko shot, giving St. Louis a 2-1 lead. Schwartz has a team-high four postseason goals.

Jake Allen made 21 saves for the Blues, who had dropped two in a row.

James Neal scored for the Predators, and Pekka Rinne made 30 saves.

Game 6 is in Nashville on Sunday.

Jaskin put the Blues in front at 5:43 of the second period, banging home a rebound off an Alex Pietrangelo shot. It was Jaskin's second career playoff goal.

Jaskin was inserted into the lineup in place of Alexander Steen, who was sidelined with a lower-body injury. He had just one goal in 51 games this season.

Neal tied it with Nashville enjoying a two-man advantage with 6:10 left in the second. The power play was set up when Pietrangelo and Patrik Berglund both took minors with 7:19 left.

The Blues managed just one shot on goal, a 45-footer by Pietrangelo, during more than four straight minutes of power-play time between the first and second periods, including 1:50 of a 5-on-3 opportunity.

Mike Fisher had three blocks for the Predators - all on Vladimir Tarasenko - during the Blues' two-man advantage. St. Louis is a league-worse 2 for 28 on the power play in the postseason.

NOTES: The Blues and Predators announced a joint effort to donate to flood relief efforts in the Midwest. The Blues will be donating all of the proceeds during Game 5 from their 50/50 raffle, memorabilia sales and Blues for Kids silent auction to the American Red Cross disaster relief efforts. The Predators announced that all of the proceeds raised from the ''Smash Car'' at Bridgestone Arena, as well as the Nashville Predators Foundation's Game 5 online auction, would be donated to the relief efforts in St. Louis.

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