After coming under fire with his words, Daniel Alfredsson will look to ignite the Ottawa Senators with his actions on Friday as they attempt to stave off elimination against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference second-round series. The captain recorded a goal and an assist on Wednesday to reach the 100-point plateau of his postseason career, but top-seeded Pittsburgh breezed to a 7-3 triumph to seize a 3-1 advantage in the series.

Results on Thursday from the second round of the National Hockey League playoffs (all series best-of-seven): Eastern Conference at New York New York Rangers 4 Boston 3 (over-time) (Boston lead series 3-1) Western Conference at Detroit Detroit 2 Chicago 0 (Detroit lead series 3-1) at Los Angeles Los Angeles 3 San Jose 0 (Los Angeles lead series 3-2) afp

After needing an historic comeback to win their first-round series, the fourth-seeded Boston Bruins can sweep the New York Rangers and advance to the Eastern Conference final with a victory at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. Fourth-liner Daniel Paille set up defenseman Johnny Boychuk to tie Tuesday's contest before scoring the go-ahead goal with 3:31 remaining in the third period in Boston's 2-1 triumph in Game 3. Sixth-seeded New York has been hampered by a punchless power play, which is 0-for-10 in the series and 2-for-38 in the playoffs.

(Reuters) - The Pittsburgh Penguins came from a goal down to thrash the Ottawa Senators 7-3 on Wednesday and move to the brink of the Eastern Conference finals. James Neal and Jarome Iginla each scored twice, and Kris Letang had four assists, as the Penguins took a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven semi-final series. The Penguins, who finished the regular season as the East's top seed, will have the chance to seal the series in Game Five in Pittsburgh on Friday.