Crosby, Pens roll, eliminate Jackets

Sidney Crosby and Scott Wilson scored 51 seconds apart in the third period, helping the Penguins eliminate the Blue Jackets with a 5-2 win in Game 5 of their first-round Eastern Conference series Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

Bryan Rust scored twice for the Penguins, 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 Maple Leafs-Capitals series in the conference semifinals.

William Karlsson and Boone Jenner scored for the Blue Jackets, but Sergei Bobrovsky stopped just 27 of 32 shots to finish a forgettable series.

Ducks can rest: A firstround sweep opens the door for some welcome news for the Ducks: A bit of rest and maybe some help on the bench.

Defenseman Sami Vatanen (upper body) and Cam Fowler (knee) could return at some point soon for the Ducks, who haven’t lost in regulation in 18 games dating to March 10 and beat the Flames in four games to open the playoffs.

The Ducks can await their next opponent after Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, veterans from the Cup-winning team in 2007 and Olympic gold medalists, steered the Ducks through their first-round Western Conference series.

Getzlaf had three goals and two assists in four games. Perry scored the overtime winner in Game 3 and the Ducks completed the sweep Wednesday night by scoring twice in the first 6 minutes, 46 seconds on the way to a 3-1 win.

“We’ve been in some games where we’ve been able to experience those moments when there’s high pressure,” Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano said.

“When you have your leaders as guys who have played World Cups, Olympics, Stanley Cup games, it helps. Those guys have been there, they’ve experienced it and they know what to do in those situations. The team followed suit.”

The Flames outplayed the Ducks the majority of Game 2, but a deflection and a couple of undisciplined penalties late allowed the Ducks to pull out the win. And trailing 4-1 late in the second period of Game 3, the Ducks scored four unanswered goals in their biggest comeback in franchise history.