Boston or the New York Rangers? To be honest, Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson doesn't think it matters who the Pittsburgh Penguins face in the Eastern Conference finals.

At the moment, Alfredsson believes the Penguins are a cut above.

"I think they would be the favorite to play either of those two teams," Alfredsson said. "They have skill, speed, they're well-coached and have a lot of experience as well. So they're going to be a tough team to beat."

Certainly too tough for the Senators.

James Neal recorded his first playoff hat trick and Pittsburgh reached the conference finals for the first time since 2009 with a 6-2 dismantling of Ottawa on Friday night, winning the best-of-seven series in five games.

The Penguins improved to 8-3 in the postseason. Eight more wins and they'll hoist the Cup for the fourth time in franchise history.

"The further you go, the tougher it gets," Penguins defenseman Doug Murray said. "Every player starts smelling the end result."

Certainly it's wafting through the Pittsburgh dressing room after the Penguins dominated one of the NHL's best defensive teams, rolling up 22 goals in five games, including 12 in the past five periods.

"We got to our game a lot," Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said. "The depth we showed, different guys chipping in. The whole way through we didn't have many lulls where we lost momentum at any point."

Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin and Brenden Morrow also scored, and Tomas Vokoun made 29 saves as top-seeded Pittsburgh ended Ottawa's season for the third time in five years.

Milan Michalek and Kyle Turris scored for the Senators. Craig Anderson stopped 27 shots, but Ottawa simply couldn't keep up.

"I hope (the Penguins) don't bill us for the clinic," Senators coach Paul MacLean said. "But they really showed the step you have to take to continue to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs."

The Penguins expected desperation from a team trying to extend its season for at least another 48 hours. Instead, the Senators offered only resignation.

The series win was the seventh for the Penguins under coach Dan Bylsma but the first deciding victory to come on home ice. Pittsburgh had gone 0-6 at home in potential series enders, something Bylsma's players insisted was an anomaly.

(China Daily 05/26/2013 page7)