The Associated Press

OTTAWA - The Ottawa Senators proved they can finally handle the weight of being a playoff favorite. Radek Bonk scored twice, and Todd White got his third goal in three games as Ottawa beat the New York Islanders 4-1 Thursday night to win their first-round playoff series in five games.

After opening their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with a stunning 3-0 loss to New York, the Presidents' Trophy-winning Senators reeled off four straight wins.

Patrick Lalime made 31 saves, and Martin Havlat also scored for Ottawa, swept in each of the two previous playoff series in which it had home-ice advantage.

"Our confidence definitely grew as the series went on," White said. "We might have been a little bit nervous to start the series but I think as it went on we gained more and more confidence and played the type of hockey that we played during the regular season."

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.

"I'm impressed with their resilience," said Islanders captain Michael Peca, held without a point in the series. "They're a balanced club that just keeps coming at you and they really play with a lot of class. You just take your hat off to them, I guess."

The Senators, who have made the playoffs seven straight seasons, won just their third playoff series - and first as the higher-seeded team.

"I think we've learned that it doesn't matter if we're the favorite, we've just got to play our game and do the things we do best," said Ottawa defenseman Wade Redden, who assisted on the Senators' first two goals.

White, who had two goals - including the winner - in Ottawa's 3-2 double-overtime victory in Game 3, scored midway through the second period Thursday night to put the Senators up 2-1.

The Islanders pressed throughout the third, but Bonk got the period's only goal when he scored into an empty net with 2:15 remaining.

Stars 5, Oilers 2

DALLAS - Sergei Zubov scored two long goals and set up another, leading the Stars past Edmonton for a 3-2 lead in their series.

Mike Modano had a goal and two assists, and Scott Young and Manny Malhotra also scored as Dallas moved within a victory of reaching the second round. The first chance comes Saturday night in Edmonton.

This is the first time the top-seeded team in the Western Conference has led No. 8 in the best-of-seven series.

Young and Zubov scored power-play goals 53 seconds apart midway through the first period to put Dallas in control. In the previous game, the Stars scored twice within 23 seconds in the third period to take the lead then pad it.

Modano scored in the second and Zubov in the third. At that point, the biggest question was whether goaltender Dallas' Marty Turco would get his first career playoff shutout. It was the third straight game he took a shutout into the third period.

Then Mike Comrie scored midway through and Eric Brewer followed with 1:52 left. The Oilers went with an empty net soon after Brewer's goal, but it ended up costing them when Malhotra scored from beyond the blue line with 27 seconds left.

Turco faced nine shots in the third period, one more than he saw the first two combined. He finished with 15 stops. Edmonton's Tommy Salo made 23 saves.

Devils 3, Bruins 0

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Martin Brodeur rebounded from a rare bad performance with his second shutout of this postseason as the New Jersey Devils eliminated the Boston Bruins with a 3-0 victory in Game 5 Thursday night.

John Madden scored a goal and set up two by Jamie Langenbrunner as the Devils made amends for their embarrassing first-round exit last year. Brodeur made 28 saves in recording his 15th career playoff shutout.

Jeff Hackett had 28 saves for the Bruins, eliminated from the playoffs in the first round for the second straight year.

Brodeur's shutout came just two nights after the Bruins chased him to the bench, scoring five times on 24 shots in two-plus periods of a 5-1 victory in Game 4.

Boston was its own enemy in Game 5. It put a lot of pressure on Brodeur in the opening minutes, but never generated much offense after picking up five straight penalties in the first two periods. The first of those infractions led to Madden's first-period goal.

Madden, who limited Bruins superstar Joe Thornton to just one goal in the series, put New Jersey ahead with a power-play goal at 8:31. He set up Langenbrunner's insurance goal - a backhander in close at 7:41 of the third period - with a nice backhand pass.

Langenbrunner's fifth goal of the series went into an empty net with 52 seconds to play.