Sondre Tronstad had only scored one goal for Blackburn before his double against Millwall
Blackburn Rovers hit four goals in a commanding win as they put a major dent in Millwall's fading Championship play-off hopes.
Sondre Tronstad scored his first league goals for the club as the hosts sealed their first home win for more than two months.
Mihailo Ivanovic's equaliser was sandwiched between Dominic Hyam's header and Tronstad's deflected effort in a hectic four minutes at the end of the first half to give the hosts a 2-1 lead at the break.
Callum Brittain fired in at the near post to give Rovers a dominant lead, before Tronstad smashed in his second of the game past Millwall's debut goalkeeper George Evans.
A Millwall win would have put them within three points of sixth place, but defeat leaves Alex Neil's side six points off the pace with three games remaining.
Much-needed home comforts for resurgent Rovers
Dominic Hyam headed Blackburn into the lead to start a flourish of three goals in four minutes soon before half-time
Ewood Park hasn't been a happy hunting ground for Blackburn in recent months.
But they were back to their best against one of the Championship's meanest defences. Only five teams, including all three automatic-promotion chasers, have conceded fewer than Neil's side this season.
A tightly contested first half finished with a flourish as Hyam headed the hosts into the lead, latching on to the brilliant Brittain's cross to nod beyond Evans.
Millwall equalised less than two minutes later, with Ivanovic prodding home after Casper De Norre flicked on Femi Azeez's cross for his 10th league goal of the season.
Less than two minutes after that, Blackburn led again, with Tronstad firing beyond Evans via a deflection off the hand of Todd Cantwell that went unseen by the officials.
Josh Coburn missed a gilt-edged chance to equalise immediately after the break when he mistimed his leap when in space with a headed chance, and from that moment on the hosts were rampant.
Brittain finished off a fine team move by crashing in his side's third, via the near post, after he had been played in by Yuki Ohashi.
And Tronstad, who had waited almost two full seasons to open his account in the Championship, rounded the performance off in style with a smashed effort into the top corner after Millwall captain Jake Cooper had played the ball straight to Tyrhys Dolan when attempting to play out from the back.
Goalkeeper Balazs Toth played his part, making a strong save to deny Millwall substitute Aidomo Emakhu in added time.
The result leaves Rovers with the smallest of chances of reigniting their own hopes of a Premier League return, as they move up to one point and one place below the Lions.
Millwall's faint play-off hopes fade further
George Evans made his debut in goal for Millwall
Millwall went into the game as one of the league's form teams as their late run at the top six had carried momentum into the run in.
The Londoners were dealt a blow before the game when first-choice goalkeeper Lukas Jensen was ruled out injured.
With back-up choice Liam Roberts also unavailable, 19-year-old Evans was given his debut.
The teenager made some strong saves in a solid display and was not at fault for any of the goals.
With four wins in their previous five matches, a late dash over the line had given Millwall fans hope of a chance of getting to Wembley.
Their fading hopes have not yet been completely extinguished, but defeat in Lancashire leaves them needing at least six points from their final three matches, against Norwich, Swansea and title-chasing Burnley to have any chance of gatecrashing the play-off party.
'Our best performance since I came in' - reaction
Valerien Ismael's Blackburn side are now unbeaten in three matches
Blackburn Rovers head coach Valerien Ismael told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"It was a great afternoon, especially the way we wanted to play. We kept going after the second half against Sheffield Wednesday, the fighting spirit [we showed] against Luton, last week and I think we combined them both today - from minute one we were on the front foot.
"We see clearly the way the players want to reinforce the message, the game plan, the way we want to play.
"When you get the result the players start to believe and put some confidence in the things and it looks like today was the best performance I think from the players since I'm in."
On Callum Brittain: "On the other hand, you see clearly when you are missing key players it makes a huge difference.
"Callum Brittain in the first game back in and you see straightaway he lifted the quality in the team.
"This team needs the best players on the pitch to perform and now we see the statistics as well - much more shots on target, much more penetration and more goals."
Millwall head coach Alex Neil told BBC Radio London:
"The change in the game was taking the chances. They had two really good opportunities in the start and between that [and the goal] we had four or five really good opportunities to get the goal.
"They then get the first goal, we then respond and get another really good goal.
"Our management then has to be [to] get to half-time, make sure we can regroup, start the second half well and see where the game goes next.
"Unfortunately we conceded. What it meant was we had to continue to push and go for the next goal.
"We did have the next chance in the second half with Josh Coburn. I think if that goes in the complexion in the game completely shifts.
"I thought the third goal going in completely took the wind out of us and I think you could see that with the players, they looked as if [they thought] this is a long way back.
"I said to them my biggest problem probably at the end of the game was we looked as though we lacked a little belief at that stage and that's a frustration for me because that's not a nice sight to have as a coach."
