NEWARK, N.J. — The Philadelphia Flyers were the last team into the Stanley Cup playoffs, but are the first to reach the second round.

Given a second chance to knock out the New Jersey Devils 10 years after squandering their first opportunity, Flyers goalie Brian Boucher was brilliant last night as Philadelphia won 3-0 to finish off the best-of-seven series in five games.

Claude Giroux scored twice in the second period after Danny Briere had given the Flyers a 1-0 lead in the first. Philadelphia beat New Jersey for the ninth time in 11 meetings this season.

Boucher finished with 27 saves this time in his second career NHL playoff shutout.

PHILADELPHIA 1 2 0—3

NEW JERSEY 0 0 0—0

First Period—1, Philadelphia, Briere 2 (Giroux, Richards), 3:16 (pp).

Second Period—2, Philadelphia, Giroux 3 (Richards), 11:48. 3, Philadelphia, Giroux 4 (Hartnell, Briere), 13:47 (pp).

Third Period—None.

Shots on Goal—Philadelphia 10-4-7—21. New Jersey 9-9-10—28. Goalies—Philadelphia, Boucher. New Jersey, Brodeur. A—17,625 (17,625). T—2:27.

BLACKHAWKS 3, PREDATORS 0

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Patrick Sharp scored his first two goals of the postseason, and Jonathan Toews also scored his first playoff goal and added an assist to lead Chicago past Nashville to tie their opening series at 2-2. Chicago rookie Antti Niemi stopped 33 shots.

CHICAGO 1 2 0—3

NASHVILLE 0 0 0—0

First Period—1, Chicago, Sharp 1 (Kane, Toews), 10:57 (pp).

Second Period—2, Chicago, Toews 1 (Hossa, Bickell), 12:55. 3, Chicago, Sharp 2 (Hjalmarsson, Sopel), 16:17. Third Period—None.

Shots on Goal—Chicago 11-11-8—30. Nashville 11-11-11—33. Goalies—Chicago, Niemi. Nashville, Rinne. A—17,113 (17,113). T—2:22.

SENATORS 4, PENGUINS 3

PITTSBURGH — Matt Carkner scored at 7:06 of the third overtime to lift Ottawa over Pittsburgh, forcing a sixth game in the Eastern Conference series. The Penguins lead 3-2. Carkner fired a wrist shot through traffic from the right point for his first goal of the postseason.

OTTAWA 2 0 1 0 0 1—4

PITTSBURGH 1 1 1 0 0 0—3

First Period—1, Ottawa, Fisher 2 (Karlsson, Spezza), 10:25 (pp). 2, Ottawa, Ruutu 2 (Foligno, Kelly), 11:33. 3, Pittsburgh, Letang 2 (Guerin, Malkin), 18:05 (pp).

Second Period—4, Pittsburgh, Kunitz 2 (Crosby, Guerin), 18:34.

Third Period—5, Pittsburgh, Crosby 5 (Malkin), 9:01. 6, Ottawa, Regin 3 (Spezza, Karlsson), 10:24.

Third Overtime—7, Ottawa, Carkner 1 (Alfredsson, Fisher), 7:06.

Shots on Goal—Ottawa 10-5-8-11-6-4—44. Pittsburgh 9-19-14-6-7-4—59. Goalies—Ottawa, Leclaire. Pittsburgh, Fleury. A—17,132 (16,940). T—4:30.

SHARKS 5, AVALANCHE 0

SAN JOSE — Evgeni Nabokov stopped 28 shots to record his seventh career playoff shutout, Logan Couture scored twice and San Jose routed Colorado to take a 3-2 edge in their series. Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau and Dwight Helminen also scored for the Sharks..

COLORADO 0 0 0—0

SAN JOSE 0 3 2—5

First Period—None.

Second Period—1, San Jose, Couture 1 (Heatley, Marleau), 8:25. 2, San Jose, Pavelski 3 (Boyle, Setoguchi), 10:21 (pp). 3, San Jose, Helminen 1 (Nichol, Murray), 15:30.

Third Period—4, San Jose, Couture 2 (Clowe, Setoguchi), 10:37. 5, San Jose, Marleau 1 (Heatley, Demers), 13:24 (pp). Shots on Goal—Colorado 2-9-17—28. San Jose 12-17-8—37. Goalies—Colorado, Anderson, Budaj. San Jose, Nabokov. A—17,562 (17,496). T—2:24.

NHL GLANCE

All Times Hawai'i

FIRST ROUND

(Best-of-7)

x-if necessary

Yesterday

Philadelphia 3, New Jersey 0

Philadelphia wins series, 4-1

Ottawa 4, Pittsburgh 3 (3 OT)

Pittsburgh leads series, 3-2

Chicago 3, Nashville 0

Series tied, 2-2

San Jose 5, Colorado 0

San Jose leads series, 3-2

Today

Montreal at Washington, 1 p.m.

Washington leads series, 3-1

Boston at Buffalo, 1 p.m.

Boston leads series, 3-1

Los Angeles at Vancouver, 4 p.m.

Series tied, 2-2

Detroit at Phoenix, 4 p.m.

Series tied, 2-2

Tomorrow

Nashville at Chicago, 9 a.m.

x-Pittsburgh at Ottawa, 1 p.m.

San Jose at Colorado, TBD