Cory Stillman scored the go-ahead goal on a power play midway through the second period, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New Jersey Devils 4-1 on Sunday to advance to the NHL Eastern Conference finals.
The Edmonton Oilers downed the San Jose Sharks 6-3 and led their series 3-2, with a chance to clinch on Wednesday.
Frantisek Kaberle, Ray Whitney and Eric Staal also scored for the Hurricanes, who have won eight of their past nine games in the playoffs and clinched this best-of-seven matchup in five games.
PHOTO: AP
"I think we deserved it," Carolina captain Rod Brind'Amour said. "We were the better team, we felt it right from Game 1, and now we're moving on."
They won a series at home for the first time and will face the Buffalo Sabres next, with the winner advancing to the Stanley Cup finals.
The Devils took a 1-0 lead less than a minute after the opening faceoff, when Brian Gionta took advantage of a fortuitous bounce to beat rookie goalie Cam Ward, who was pulled after allowing four goals in a little more than one period on Saturday.
He finished with 17 saves, including 10 in the first period when Carolina played short-handed for 8 minutes. The Devils failed to capitalize on any of those power plays, and Kaberle tied the score on the Hurricanes' second shot of the game.
"The feeling is the same, it's that sense of relief," Carolina defenseman Aaron Ward said. "If we didn't do it here, and we didn't approach this like it was our Game 7, what kind of bed are we making for ourselves? The coaching staff preached this was the end-all, be-all game, and we had to take it right now and seize it."
Oilers 6, Sharks 3
In San Jose, California, Fernando Pisani broke a tie with his second goal early in the third period, and Ryan Smyth had two goals and two assists in eighth-seeded Edmonton's victory.
Edmonton got a boost shortly before the opening faceoff, when fans in the Shark Tank inexplicably booed the Canada national anthem. The Oilers headed into Game 6 on Wednesday with a chance to make the conference finals for the first time since 1992.
The Oilers jumped to a 3-1 lead with three goals on their first eight shots, including Shawn Horcoff's short-handed score just 12 seconds into the third period. San Jose rallied to tie it with quick goals from Christian Ehrhoff and Jonathan Cheechoo, but Pisani scored on a 2-on-1 break with Shawn Horcoff with about 15:57 to play.
Jarret Stoll and Smyth added power-play goals in the final minutes. Horcoff had a goal and two assists for Edmonton.
Scott Thornton also scored for the Sharks, who had won six straight postseason games before losing the last three.
Jaroslav Balastik broke a tie with a fluke third-period goal to give the Czech Republic a 6-4 win over Canada on Sunday to stay unbeaten.
Both teams had already clinched quarterfinal spots from Group E along with Finland and the US.
It was the first loss for Canada in the championship.
"We're disappointed, no question," Canada coach Marc Habscheid said. "We started out very poorly. In the second and third periods we played more determined and with that good old Canadian passion."
Olympic champion Sweden also lost for the first time, dropping a 5-2 decision to Slovakia, which needed a win to keep its chances alive for a quarterfinal spot from Group F.
Each team in both groups has one game left.
The Czechs led 3-1 in the first period, but Canada came back to tie the score twice at 3-3 and 4-4 in the last two sessions.
Sidney Crosby, one of the NHL's top rookies this season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, scored Canada's last goal 1:01 into the third to make it 4-4 after beating goalie Milan Hnilicka with a backhander off his own rebound.
It was Crosby's sixth goal, the most in the tournament.
Five minutes later, Balastik put the Czechs ahead for good, scoring with a slap shot from virtually an impossible angle near the boards in the Canadian end.
Alex Auld gave up another goal at 13:39 as Martin Erat beat the Canadian goalie with a one-timer off David Vyborny's pass after a quick Czech 2-on-1 break.
"We started very good when we scored two early goals and fought well when they came back in the last two periods," Czech Republic coach Alois Hadamczik said.
Atlanta Thrashers forward Marian Hossa, who missed Slovakia's last two games with a knee injury, set the tone for Slovakia, scoring 1:45 into the game.
Martin Cibak, Rene Vydareny, Marcel Hossa and Andrej Kollar also scored for Slovakia, which never trailed in the game.
Slovakia coach Frantisek Hossa said Marian Hossa's return gave his teammates a big boost, and several agreed.
"Marian is the best player on our team and we need him very much and it's unbelievable ... that he gets hurt like that and came back to play for Slovakia," Cibak said. "That's a big help for us, and mentally and physically we were ready tonight and I think we played better hockey than Sweden."
Magnus Johansson and Andreas Karlsson scored second-period goals for Sweden, which entered the game with an unbeaten record but played listlessly at times.
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