Following the Bruins’ Game 5 victory to advance to the Eastern Conference finals, Rangers coach John Tortorella said that the Bruins deserved the bid to advance more than the Rangers.

“They deserved to win,” Tortorella said . “They were the better team. They deserved to win.”

Tortorella, who has been something of a polarizing figure throughout the series and could be on the hot seat, praised Bruins’ coach Claude Julien, adding that he “can’t believe” that the coach is second-guessed by the local or national media.

Up next for the Bruins are the Penguins, with Tortorella saying “Boston has a really good chance.”

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The Bruins advanced to the Eastern Conference finals Saturday night, handing the Rangers a 3-1 loss and eliminating them in five games. Up next for the B’s are the Penguins, who knocked out the Senators on Friday.

The Rangers took the lead in the first period on a power play goal from Dan Girardi, but Torey Krug struck again early in the second period with a power play goal of his own. It was the fourth goal for Krug this postseason, and with it he became the first rookie defenseman in NHL history to score four goals in his first five career playoff games. Campbell made it 2-1 just under 10 minutes later, knocking in a a rush that was orchestrated by Daniel Paille, and added an empty-netter with 50.4 seconds remaining in regulation to seal the deal.

Tuukka Rask made 28 saves in the victory, which also saw the return of Dennis Seidenberg from a lower-body injury.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

- Tuukka Rask made the save of the series when he stopped Ryan Callahan on a breakaway with under 11:30 to go in regulation. Rask made a right pad save to get deflect the puck out of play after Callahan took a long pass through the neutral zone and raced to the net.

- Who would have thought Torey Krug and not Jaromir Jagr would be the Bruins’ most meaningful addition this season? Krug led the Bruins in goals in the first round and, as mentioned above, is the first rookie defensemen in NHL history to score four goals in his first five playoff games.

- The members of the Merlot Line should change their practice jerseys to green, because they’ve been money. They were difference-makers on the scoreboard in two of Boston’s four wins this round, but they’re usually difference-makers anyway. Paille picked off a Roman Hamrlik pass in the neutral zone to start the rush on which they scored, with Campbell burying the rebound of Thornton’s bid.

- Give Milan Lucic credit for a monster of a backcheck late in the first period with Dorsett giving chase to a puck through the neutral zone and into the Bruins’ zone. Johnny Boychuk had pinched earlier in the play, so Lucic had to race back to turn on the jets and whack at Dorsett’s stick to break up what would have been a partial breakaway and a big scoring chance that would have given the Rangers the opportunity to take a 2-0 lead into the second period. Lucic had a strong performance in Game 5 otherwise, getting scoring chances and keeping his feet moving as he continued his postseason renaissance.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

- The Bruins took advantage of the Rangers’ weak power play by keeping them without a goal on New York’s first 12 power plays of the series, but from the third period Thursday though the first period Saturday they allowed a pair of goals over a span of three penalties. They’ve been pretty big goals — the game-tying tally in Game 4 and the first of the game in Game 5.

- Jaromir Jagr is just mega snakebite. Among the multiple opportunities Saturday that didn’t make their way to back of the net was a rebound that Jagr fired high glove-side on a third-period power play that was snagged by Lundqvist. Jagr still has no goals this postseason.

Dennis Seidenberg is back in the Bruins’ lineup for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals after being out since the first period of Game 7 of the first round with a lower-body injury.

With Seidenberg back, Dougie Hamilton is out. Seidenberg was paired with Zdeno Chara in warmups, while the other pairings were Matt Bartkowski-Johnny Boychuk and Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid.

The Bruins wrap up practice Friday at TD Garden in advance of Game 5 Saturday in Boston. (Mike Petraglia/WEEI.com)

The Bruins took to the TD Garden ice for a 30-minute up-tempo, intense practice after coach Claude Julien and players admitted that their effort was there on Thursday night but not their execution.

Friday was an effort, even after a tough overtime loss, to pick up the intensity level for Saturday afternoon’s 5:30 start against the Rangers, with yet another chance to close out the series in Game 5.

“It was just a good flow, good practice,” David Krejci said. “Hard and short. We don’t know what’s going to happen [Saturday] morning but it’s kind of an odd time for the game, 5:30. We’re just taking it day-by-day and we felt that, and the coaches felt the same way, that we needed to go out there for a short, hard practice. And we did that. Now, we’re just going to focus on [Saturday].”

Krejci wasn’t overly critical of his teammates and their well-documented mistakes in Game 4 that caused them to blow a 2-0 lead and lose the game in overtime.

“It was an OK game,” he said. “There were chances on both sides but the game is behind us now. They won in OT. [Saturday] is a new game and we’re going to do everything we can to get over it.”

All Bruins were accounted for except defenseman Andrew Ference, out with a lower body injury. Dennis Seidenberg (lower body) and Wade Redden (unspecified) skated together as a D-pair Friday and have been skating all week with the team. There’s a sense that Seidenberg could return on Saturday in place of Dougie Hamilton or Matt Bartkowski. Seidenberg hasn’t played since injuring himself on the second shift of Game 7 against Toronto on May 13.

“I felt comfortable out there today,” Seidenberg said. “But again it’s a decision where I have to talk to them first. We’ll see. They’re going to ask me a couple of a questions and go from there.

Seidenberg said he is itching to get back on the ice.

“Really bad,” Seidenberg said of his desire to return. “No one likes watching hockey games, especially around this time of year, so hopefully I get back in there soon, and hopefully can help.”

Seidenberg watched from upstairs Thursday night as the Bruins failed to close out Game 4.

“We know we played a good game,” Seidenberg said. “A couple of hiccups there but for the most part, we put a lot of pucks on the nets, had quite a few chances, especially on the power play so we know we could’ve won it. We just have to stick in the moment and try to win the next one.

“Every game we want to finish with the win, especially being up 3-1, it would be nice to finish it off but again, we have to play a good game first because they have the momentum now.”