Connor McDavid, physical presence.

In an attempt to rally his Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 against the San Jose Sharks, the captain leveled Marcus Sorensen with a bruising open-ice hit.

Orange crush, indeed.

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A sweep of the Chicago Blackhawks has the Nashville Predators feeling like world-beaters.

Goaltender Pekka Rinne seems to think so, at least.

"Right now, I don't care who we play against, if we keep this up we can beat anybody," Rinne said, per Thomas Willis from the team's website.

Clearly, there's reason for confidence after Nashville limited the top team in the Western Conference to three goals in four games, with Rinne himself playing a starring role by posting a brilliant .970 save percentage.

Not only that, but the Predators outshot Chicago by a 134-126 margin, suggesting Nashville largely carried the play in a series few predicted they'd win, much less sweep.

Nashville now awaits the winner of Minnesota-St. Louis with the knowledge that no team they'll face in the Western Conference bracket was as good in the regular season as the team they just beat handily.

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After being a healthy scratch in Games 3 and 4, Sharks forward Mikkel Boedker left his mark on Game 5 by netting his fifth career playoff goal, finishing off beautiful passes from Marcus Sorensen and Chris Tierney.

Boedker is trying to forget a miserable season in which he recorded just 26 points in 81 games after signing a four-year, $16-million contract with the Sharks. There's no better time than the playoffs to make up for an underachieving season.

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Patrick Maroon is on the board.

The Edmonton Oilers forward scored his first of the postseason Thursday, burying a loose puck past San Jose Sharks netminder Martin Jones.

(Video courtesy: NHL.com)

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Marc-Andre Fleury wasn't scheduled to make any playoff starts for the Pittsburgh Penguins this year.

Expected to serve as backup to Matt Murray, who backstopped the team to a Stanley Cup win in 2016, Fleury was pressed into action against the Columbus Blue Jackets when the incumbent fell prey to injury prior to the start of the postseason.

Four victories later, Fleury has set a club record for career playoff wins, passing Tom Barasso.

Fleury may not have many starts for the Penguins left in his future, depending when Murray is able to return, how far the team goes in the playoffs, and whether he's moved in the offseason, whether by trade or through the expansion draft.

As such, he's making sure to take it all in while he can.

"Once you realize you don't know what's coming for you, you just try to enjoy it," Fleury said after Game 5, per Wes Crosby of NHL.com.

"To be here at home, in front of our fans, and to be able to get that win ... I still get butterflies and goosebumps."

Fleury's 57th playoff win came in his 105th appearance since 2007.

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Better days are still ahead.

Despite the Columbus Blue Jackets' playoff elimination Thursday to the Pittsburgh Penguins, there's plenty to smile about after the best season in franchise history.

The Blue Jackets wrapped the regular season with 108 points, fourth-highest league-wide and the best finish in franchise history, a 15-point margin over the previous high mark.

This year was the 16th NHL season in Columbus, but just the third time the team advanced to the playoffs. The good news is that postseason appearances will be far more frequent in the future.

Three key pieces emerged to show why this season, and the years ahead, will be successful for the Blue Jackets:

John Tortorella

Eyebrows were raised when the Blue Jackets hired Tortorella to take over for fired bench boss Todd Richards last season. Tortorella, of course, was coming off a short-lived tenure with the Vancouver Canucks, relieved after one year on the job.

It only appeared to get worse when Tortorella manned the bench for Team USA at this summer's World Cup, where some curious coaching choices and lineup decisions led to a fast exit for the American squad.

But Tortorella arrived at Blue Jackets' training camp voicing a fresh approach. He emphasized that his team would need to ready its conditioning to play his up-tempo style, going as far as to eliminate the team's morning skates as a means to conserve energy.

The approach paid off handsomely, as the Blue Jackets put together their best ever season that saw them finish one victory shy of the NHL's all-time mark after rattling off a 16-game win streak.

Tortorella has resurfaced as one of the NHL's top coaches, and with it, has brought the Blue Jackets into the contender column after years in the league's basement.

Sergei Bobrovsky

The Blue Jackets' netminder missed most of the 2015-16 season, limited to just 37 games as he dealt with a groin injury.

The lost time hurt Bobrovsky's performance on the ice, too, as he put together a losing record last season, alongside average numbers in the most important columns: a 2.75 goals-against average and a pedestrian .908 save percentage.

But Bobrovsky was back on the case this season, stringing together a franchise-record 41 wins, topping the 33-win season Steve Mason achieved in 2008-09.

Not only was Bobrovsky breaking franchise records, but his performance was among the best league-wide, finishing with the NHL's best GAA and save rate, and just one win shy of Edmonton's Cam Talbot and Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals.

The Blue Jackets' can put the concerns of Bobrovsky's injury-riddled campaign of 2015-16 behind them and be safe with the knowledge they have stability between the pipes.

Youth Movement

If it wasn't some of the key veterans making noise this season, it was the Blue Jackets' impressive crop of young players.

Columbus saw the emergence of a handful of young talents in 2016-17, and the most important may have been from center Alexander Wennberg, who took control of the top pivot duties after former middleman Ryan Johansen was dealt to the Nashville Predators last season.

All of 22 years old, Wennberg wrapped his third season with 59 points, good for second on the team behind Cam Atkinson. Wennberg also led the team with 46 assists, a mark that puts him third-best in franchise history for helpers in a season.

On the blue line, Seth Jones was a strong presence through his first full season in the Ohio capital after being added from the Predators last year. Jones led all Blue Jackets' defenders, averaging 23:24 in ice time.

But the most impressive play on the back end came from rookie defenseman Zach Werenski. The 19-year-old stepped into the Blue Jackets' lineup and compiled 47 points. It's that type of performance that saw Werenski finish as one of three candidates for this year's top rookie.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Roman Josi scored twice, Pekka Rinne had 30 saves and the Nashville Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Thursday night to complete a surprising sweep of the Western Conference's top seed.

Colton Sissons also scored and Viktor Arvidsson added an empty-net goal as Nashville completed the franchise's first playoff sweep. Led by Rinne and a terrific defensive performance by their lines and defensive pairings, the Predators limited the high-scoring Blackhawks to just three goals in 13 periods.

Nashville will face the winner of the St. Louis-Minnesota series in the second round. The Blues have a 3-1 lead heading into Game 5 on Saturday in Minnesota.

Chicago became the first No. 1 seed to lose in the opening round since the Los Angeles Kings knocked off the Vancouver Canucks on their way to the Stanley Cup title in 2012. Chicago's second straight first-round exit followed a regular season in which the Blackhawks went 50-23-9 and recorded 109 points, the second-highest total in franchise history.

It was the first time a No. 1 seed was swept in the first round since the NHL adopted its current playoff format in 1994. The Blackhawks had the best record in the Campbell Conference and were the Norris Division's No. 1 seed in 1993 when they got swept by St. Louis in the opening round. That also was the last time the Blackhawks had been swept in a playoff series before Nashville's dominant performance.

The game was scoreless midway through the second period when Ryan Johansen won a faceoff against Marcus Kruger and passed to Ryan Ellis, who sent it to Josi on his right. Josi fired a slap shot from behind the right circle that got between Corey Crawford's legs and sneaked into the left corner of the net at 9:41.

Nashville extended the lead to 2-0 with a bizarre goal at 8:52 of the third. Colton Sissons fired a shot that bounced off the cage and appeared to end up in the area of Crawford's blocker before the puck came loose and rolled into the net. Less than 90 seconds later, Josi beat Crawford on a wrist shot.

Crawford was exceptional for the first 29 1/2 minutes, but he didn't get much help in the final part of the game. He finished with 22 stops.

In an attempt to create a spark, the Blackhawks shuffled their lines and star forward Patrick Kane played a team-high 23:43. They dressed seven defensemen - Michal Kempny made his playoff debut - and nothing worked.

Chicago avoided the shutout when captain Jonathan Toews scored at 14:42 of the third for his first postseason goal since Game 4 of the 2015 Stanley Cup Final. Toews had been held without a goal for 12 straight postseason games.

Arvidsson wrapped up the sweep with an empty-netter with 1:48 remaining.

NOTES: Predators forward Craig Smith was scratched after he got hurt in overtime of Game 3. ... The Predators brought out more Nashville star power by having Luke Bryan sing the national anthem. John Hiatt performed on a stage behind one of the nets between the second and third periods. Carrie Underwood, who is married to Predators captain Mike Fisher, sang the anthem Monday. ... The sellout crowd of 17,326 included Tennessee Titans coach Mike Mularkey and general manager Jon Robinson.

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Roman Josi's second goal of Game 4 may have been the Nashville Predators' biggest all season.

The defenseman finished off a perfect passing play involving Colton Sissons and Austin Watson to put his team up 3-0 on the Chicago Blackhawks and set up a series sweep.

The two goals in Game 4 matched Josi's career playoff total in 33 previous games.

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Welcome to New York.

Mika Zibanejad scored his first playoff goal for the Rangers, and it was a rather large one, coming in overtime of Game 5 against the Montreal Canadiens.

It appeared to come off a bit of a broken play, as a Chris Kreider attempt bounced off a defender's stick and found its way to Zibanejad's stick, at which point the puck was promptly deposited past Carey Price.

Game 6 is set for Saturday on Broadway.

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Keep your head up, kid.

Here's another angle of this massive body check, which occurred during Thursday's Game 4:

It's safe to say Viktor Arvidsson will be keeping his head up when coming down Duncan Keith's side from here on out.

Arvidsson, who stands just 5-foot-9, was miraculously able to escape this thundering hit unscathed.

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