OTTAWA – Evgeni Malkin and Jarko Ruutu scored second-period goals, leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night to complete a four-game sweep of their first-round series.

Sidney Crosby scored into an empty net with 7.5 seconds remaining and had an assist, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for Pittsburgh, which got its first sweep in 16 years and its first playoff series win since 2001. Cory Stillman scored for Ottawa, which was swept out of the first round for the third time in its 11 consecutive playoff appearances.

The sweep was a measure of revenge for the young Penguins, who were knocked out of last year’s playoffs in five games by the Senators. Ottawa went on to make its first Stanley Cup finals appearance in modern franchise history, losing in five to Anaheim.

The Penguins also became the first team to advance to the second round. Pittsburgh will face Boston, if the Bruins overcome their 3-1 series deficit against Montreal to advance, or the winner of the New Jersey-New York Rangers series.

Injured Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson played his second straight game and was reunited with linemates Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley, but it wasn’t enough.

Malkin scored his second goal of the playoffs 1:40 into the second. The 21-year-old Russian opened the scoring during the Penguins’ second power-play opportunity as he flicked his own rebound past Martin Gerber with a one-handed backhand on a setup by Crosby.

Stillman brought the sold-out Scotiabank Place crowd of 19,954 to life midway through the period when he tied it at 1. Stillman pushed a loose puck at the right edge of the crease slowly into the goal at 10:31 for his second goal of the playoffs.

Ruutu restored Pittsburgh’s lead for good at 15:28 with a sensational individual effort after he was sent in on Gerber by Tyler Kennedy.

Rangers 5, Devils 3

NEW YORK – Marc Staal pushed the New York Rangers within a win of the second round, and he did it with a good old slap shot.

No tricks or funky screens were needed to beat Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils on this night. Staal scored his first NHL playoff goal with 3:13 left in Game 4, and the Rangers earned a 5-3 victory Wednesday night and 3-1 series lead in the series over New Jersey.

Scott Gomez had two goals and Chris Drury also scored for the Rangers, who could end the series Friday with a win at New Jersey. New York took the first two games on enemy ice before splitting two at home.

The rookie defenseman Stahl took a pass from Martin Straka, who provided the Rangers with one of their four one-goal leads, and fired a drive from inside the blue line that got by Brodeur.

Gomez sealed it with an empty-netter with 12.2 seconds left.

Brodeur and the Devils kept Rangers agitator Sean Avery without a goal for the first time in the series, one game after his antics led the NHL to amend a rule on unsportsmanlike conduct.

Avery faced Brodeur and away from the play during a 5-on-3 advantage in the Devils’ win on Sunday, waving his arms and stick in the goalie’s face – a move deemed illegal the following day.

Predators 3, Red Wings 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Dan Hamhuis and Shea Weber scored in 32-second span in the first period, and the Nashville Predators evened their first-round Western Conference playoff series against the Detroit Red Wings with a 3-2 victory in Game 4 on Wednesday night.

Dan Ellis stopped 39 shots, Greg de Vries added a goal and Martin Erat had two assists as the Predators grabbed a lead in the first period and never let up on the top-seeded Red Wings. They even chased six-time Vezina Trophy winner Dominik Hasek at 6:35 of the second, having stopped 11 of 14 shots.

Game 5 is Friday night in Detroit.

Pavel Datsyuk scored twice for Detroit.