Chicago beat Vancouver to advance to NHL finals

Troy Brouwer and Kris Versteeg scored in the space of 36 seconds in the second period to launch Chicago on a 5-1 rout of Vancouver that sent the Blackhawks into the NHL Western Conference finals.

The Blackhawks won the best-of-seven series 4-2 and will face the top seed in the West, San Jose, for a berth in the Stanley Cup finals.

Dave Bolland scored on a short-handed breakaway with 45 seconds left in the second period, and Patrick Kane and Dustin Byfuglien added breakaway goals 35 seconds apart in the third as the Blackhawks eliminated Vancouver in game six of the conference semi-finals for the second straight year.

Antti Niemi made 29 saves for Chicago, who won all three of the games in Vancouver in the series.

Shane O'Brien scored 3:44 into the third period, and Roberto Luongo had 30 saves for the Canucks, who haven't made it past the second round since reaching the Stanley Cup finals in 1994.

Luongo was brilliant in the first period, denying Byfuglien and Kane in the first two minutes. He gloved Patrick Sharp's breakaway with 6:13 left, and seconds later kicked out the left pad to stop Byfuglien's tap-in.

Canucks defenseman Sami Salo played 48 hours after he took a slap shot in the groin that forced him out of game five and required a trip to hospital.

But his partner on the top pairing, Alexander Edler, left the game after being thrown hard into the end boards by Byfuglien late in the first.

He didn't come back for the second, and the juggled defensive pairings quickly allowed two goals.

O'Brien made an ill-advised pinch to make a hit in the Chicago end, leaving Kyle Wellwood to try to defend Brouwer. Brouwer got behind him and redirected Patrick Sharp's pass over Luongo's glove.

Kevin Bieksa gave up the puck coming out of his end on the next shift, and Versteeg picked it up on a 2-on-1. He used Andrew Ladd as a decoy and skated in alone on Luongo to score his third goal of the series.