PITTSBURGH — Mike Sullivan was right. The past is the past for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Pittsburgh ended its postseason hex against the New York Rangers emphatically Saturday, lighting up Henrik Lundqvist in a remarkably easy 6-3 rout in Game 5 to win the series 4-1 and advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Rookie Bryan Rust scored twice during a four-goal burst in the second period and Matt Murray made 38 saves for the Penguins. Pittsburgh outscored the Rangers 14-4 over the final three games to gain a measure of revenge after New York ended the Penguins’ seasons each of the last two years.

Matt Cullen, Carl Hagelin, Conor Sheary and Phil Kessel also scored for the Penguins to end a miserable and brief postseason for Lundqvist, who stopped just 17 of 23 shots and failed to make it to the third period for the third time in the series.

Sullivan, who became the Penguins’ head coach in December, kept insisting that the previous playoff meltdowns against the Rangers had no bearing this time around, pointing to a remade roster infused with inexperience and unburdened by previous playoff disappointments. Yet there was a tinge of “uh oh” as New York beat Murray twice in the opening 10:35, doubling its output against him in the previous six periods combined.

BLACKHAWKS 6, BLUES 3: Artem Anisimov, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Dale Weise scored during Chicago’s dominant second period, and the Blackhawks beat visiting St. Louis to send their first-round playoff series to Game 7.

Andrew Shaw added a third-period goal in his return from a one-game suspension for using a gay slur during Chicago’s 4-3 loss in Game 4. Andrew Ladd had a goal and an assist as the Blackhawks improved to 15-1 in their last 16 Game 6s in the playoffs.

Chicago trailed 3-1 in the series, but stayed alive with a 4-3 double-overtime victory in St. Louis on Thursday. Then, the defending Stanley Cup champions trailed 3-1 after one period in Game 6, but found a way again.

Game 7 is Monday night.

DUCKS 5, PREDATORS 2: Ryan Garbutt scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, and Anaheim grabbed a 3-2 lead in the first-round series by becoming the first team to win at home.

David Perron scored the tying goal earlier in the second period and assisted on Garbutt’s goal.

The Ducks added three goals in the third: Sami Vatanen scored on a breakaway, Cam Fowler had a power-play goal and Ryan Kesler added an empty-netter.