ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Corey Crawford made 34 saves, Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist, and the Chicago Blackhawks advanced to the Western Conference finals with a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night for a four-game sweep.

The Wild never led in the series. Goals by Jared Spurgeon and Nino Niederreiter with 2:18 and 1:27 left gave them one last shot, with their net emptied. The final few whacks were either wide or turned aside by Crawford, who stopped 124 of 131 shots in the four games.

Brent Seabrook and Andrew Shaw scored for the Blackhawks, who were down to five defensemen after a serious injury to veteran Michal Roszival. Marian Hossa had a long empty-netter, and Jonathan Toews and Bryan Bickell had two assists apiece.



Canadiens 6, Lightning 2

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Carey Price and company are headed back to Montreal. The Tampa Bay Lightning are coming with them.

Price stopped 22 shots, Max Pacioretty had a short-handed goal and two assists, and the Canadiens beat the Lighting 6-2 on Thursday night to stay alive in their second-round playoff series.

“These are the games where your best players are going to be your best players. You’re facing elimination and you have to be the difference in the game,” said defenseman P.K. Subban, a finalist for the Norris Trophy who finished with two assists. “We worked hard and we deserved to win. Throughout this series I think we’ve deserved better than we’ve received, but that’s out of our control.”

Pacioretty and Andrei Markov scored in the first as the Canadiens avoided a sweep with their first victory in nine games this season against the Lightning.

 Game 5 is Saturday night in Montreal, where Tampa Bay won the first two games of the series.

“This group won three out of four elimination games in the playoffs last year, so we knew what to expect and we played with that desperation we needed to have,” Pacioretty said. “But we’re still down three games to one and we need to play with that same desperation the next game and hope to creep into their mind by playing the right way.”