NHL playoff roundup

Bruins 4, Sabres 3

BOSTON (AP) - David Krejci had two goals and one assist to lead Boston to a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series on Monday night and put the Bruins in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Tuukka Rask stopped 27 shots for Boston, which will play either Philadelphia or Pittsburgh in the second round.

It's Boston's second playoff series victory - and first at home - since 1999.

Buffalo, which missed the playoffs in each of the past two seasons, has not advanced since reaching the conference semifinals in 2006 and '07.

Mark Recchi had a goal and an assist, and Miroslav Satan also scored for the Bruins.

Olympic MVP Ryan Miller made 28 saves for Buffalo. Patrick Kaleta and Nathan Gerbe scored for the Sabres, and Thomas Vanek made it 4-3 with 1:13 left after the goalie was pulled for an extra skater.

Blackhawks 5, Predators 3

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Jonathan Toews scored a power-play goal to cap a wild first period, and Chicago held on to eliminate Nashville and advance to the Western Conference semifinals for the second straight year.

The Blackhawks won the final three games of the series, setting up a second-round matchup with the Vancouver Canucks for the second consecutive season. Nashville has been eliminated in all five of its postseason appearances on home ice.

Chicago led 4-3 going into the third, where Nashville outshot the Blackhawks 15-3. Rookie goalie Antti Niemi stopped Martin Erat in front with 85 seconds left. Nashville pulled goalie Pekka Rinne with 1:15 remaining, but John Madden scored an empty netter with 7.8 seconds left to seal the victory.

Toews also had an assist. Duncan Keith and Patrick Sharp each had a goal and an assist, and Patrick Kane had a goal. Marian Hossa added two assists.

Jason Arnott scored two goals, his only tallies of the series, and Shea Weber had a goal for Nashville.

Canadiens 4, Capitals 1

MONTREAL (AP) - Jaroslav Halak made 53 saves, and Michael Cammalleri scored twice in the first period for eighth-seeded Montreal, which stayed alive with a victory over Washington and forced a Game 7 in the first-round series.

Halak made 18 saves in the first, 14 in the second, and 21 in the third. He came within 4:50 of his first playoff shutout. Halak won his second straight start despite the top-seeded Capitals' 54-22 advantage in shots.

Cammalleri put the Canadiens up 1-0 with a power-play goal 7:30 in. He added his second of the game - fifth of the series - at 9:09 to increase the lead to 2-0.

Maxim Lapierre drove a slap shot past Semyon Varlamov from the right side for Montreal's third goal 3:17 into the third. Tomas Plekanec scored into an empty net with 56.5 seconds remaining.

Eric Fehr scored his third goal at 15:10 on Washington's 52nd shot to spoil Halak's shutout bid. It wasn't enough for the Capitals, who had led the series 3-1.

Game 7 is Wednesday night at Washington.