Six goals are nice in any hockey game.

Seven, though, is great if it produces a win.

Seven is heavenly if it produces a berth in a championship.

For the Seibu Prince Rabbits, a 7-2 victory over the Nikko Kobe Ice Bucks did just that in their series-sweeping Asia League Ice Hockey playoffs win on Tuesday night, a win that sends them into the championship round.

After the triumph at DyDo Drinco Arena, captain Takahito Suzuki praised his teammates' series performance.

"All the players, we've got playoff experience. They know how to play for the playoffs," Suzuki said through an interpreter.

But Suzuki underscored the turnaround his team made in the second period to qualify for the final.

"We didn't play hard," he said of the opening period. "Then we had to change. This is the playoff, not the regular season."

In other action Tuesday, the Nippon Paper Cranes earned a berth in the finals by beating Kangwon Land 5-3 in Kushiro. The Cranes earned a 3-0 series sweep over their Korean opponent. Hiroo Iizuka scored the game-winning goal 3:23 into the second period. Yoshinori Imura and Darcy Mitani had two tallies apiece for the Cranes.

Facing playoff elimination with a loss on Tuesday night, Nikko Kobe displayed a sense of urgency in their on-ice performance in the first period.

The Icebuck players checked harder, skated quicker and got to more loose pucks than the hosts in the early going.

The Icebucks took a 1-0 lead at 7:49 of the opening period on right wing Kazuma Takahashi's goal, a low shot just a few centimeters to the left of the left pipe of the goal. The shot, coming off a nifty give-and-go with left wing Yoshiyuki Hatano, rolled just past the reach of outstretched Seibu netminder Naoya Kikuchi.

The Prince Rabbits outshot Nikko Kobe 12-6 in the first period, but didn't capitalize on its numerous goal-scoring opportunities, which included a 5-on-3 late in the period.

The game changed quickly -- and dramatically -- in the second period. Seibu's Daisuke Obara rifled a slap shot near the blue line, through traffic and a half-dozen ice skates past Icebucks goalie Michio Hashimoto at the 1:08 mark to tie the game at 1-1.

Center Kiyoshi Fujita ripped a one-timer from near the left faceoff circle past Hashimoto, giving Seibu a 2-1 lead 3:44 into the second.

Just like in Sunday's 6-2 victory, the Prince Rabbits trailed before taking a lead and then turning on the after-burners to score goals in a flurry. And they went ahead 3-1 less than two minutes later when Hiroyuki Miura showcased his splendid hand-eye coordinator and lifted a shot that floated past Hashimoto and into the back of the net.

Masahiro Kawamura put the finishing touches on the middle stanza's offensive masterpiece at the 16:31 mark, zipping a low wrist shot that collided with the net before Hashimoto's stick had a chance to deflect it.

Seibu left little doubt which team was superior in the second. Taking 20 shots to Nikko Kobe's six was the clear-cut indicator.

This gave the Prince Rabbits a 32-12 advantage entering the final period.

This was another impressive reminder of why Seibu earned the No. 2 seed for the playoffs: Through two periods, Prince Rabbit players had either a goal or an assist. That's called offensive depth, and championship-caliber teams usually have it.

In the third period, Seibu pulled ahead 5-1 on captain Suzuki's beautiful move in front of the crease. He changed directions with the puck and outjuked Hashimoto, paying dividends for slick passes from Joel Prpic and Tomohiko Uchiyama.

For Nikko Kobe, the bleeding finally stopped at the 5:29 mark as Nobumasa provided temporary relief with a goal.

But the hosts never let up. They got goal No. 6 by Kawamura 243 seconds later on a shot nearly identical to his first goal. This time, though, his magic touch came from deep in the slot.

Prpic made it 7-2 at the 14:18 mark as he cranked a hard slap shot past Hashimoto, who had a long, tough night between the pipes.