Brodeur, Devils Blank Bruins

Martin Brodeur was on his game again, and that was enough to knock the Boston Bruins out of the playoffs.

Brodeur rebounded Thursday night from a rare bad postseason performance to help the New Jersey Devils advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Two nights after giving up five goals and being driven to the bench, Brodeur recorded his second shutout of the series and led the Devils into the second round with a 3-0 victory in Game 5 of the first-round Eastern Conference series at East Rutherford, N.J.

“No question, it was good to see,” Devil captain Scott Stevens said of Brodeur’s 28-save performance. “We did a much better job protecting him and he was solid in there. He played flawless.

“He’s been through it before. He’s very mentally stable and that’s a big reason why he’s the top goalie in the league.”

John Madden, who helped shut down Joe Thornton and the Bruins’ top line, scored a goal and set up two by Jamie Langenbrunner as the Devils made amends for their embarrassing first-round exit last year.

Ottawa 4, New York Islanders 1 -- Radek Bonk scored twice at Ottawa, Todd White got his third goal in three games and the Senators won their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series in five games.

After opening the series with a stunning 3-0 loss, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Senators won four in a row.

Mark Parrish scored the only goal for New York, which finished the season eighth in the East, 30 points behind Ottawa’s league-high and team-record 113.

The Senators, who have made the playoffs seven straight seasons, won only their third playoff series.

Dallas 5, Edmonton 2 -- Sergei Zubov scored two goals and set up another at Dallas to help give the Stars a 3-2 lead in the first-round Western Conference playoff series. Scott Young and Zubov scored power-play goals 53 seconds apart midway through the first period to put Dallas in control.

The Stars’ Marty Turco faced nine shots in the third period, one more than he saw the first two combined. He finished with 15 saves.