Scott Walker scored his first NHL playoff goal 18:46 into overtime to send the Hurricanes into the Eastern Conference finals with a 3-2 win over the Bruins last night in Boston.

Byron Bitz gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 7:42 of the first period, and Carolina captain Rod Brind’Amour tied it six minutes later. Sergei Samsonov put the Hurricanes ahead 2-1 at 7:45 of the second period, but Milan Lucic tied it for the Bruins at 6:19 of the third.

Carolina will face the Penguins, who beat Washington in Game 7 of that series on Wednesday, in the East finals.

Walker scored his first goal in 25 career NHL playoff games on a rebound of a shot by Ray Whitney from the right circle. Tim Thomas made the save but couldn’t recover in time to stop Walker from batting the puck out of the air and over him.

Walker had been fined $2,500 after punching defenseman Aaron Ward in the face with his right fist late in Boston’s win in Game 5. The Bruins said Walker should have been suspended for punching Ward, who hadn’t taken off his gloves.

The sixth-seeded Hurricanes upset the Devils in the first round by winning the last two games, including scoring the tying and winning goals in the final 80 seconds of Game 7.

Red Wings 4, Ducks 3

In Detroit, Dan Cleary’s tiebreaking goal with three minutes left lifted Detroit over Anaheim and sent the defending Stanley Cup champions to the Western Conference finals for the third straight year.

Anaheim’s Jonas Hiller made 36 saves, and Chris Osgood stopped 24 shots for the Red Wings, who couldn’t protect an early two-goal lead.

Jiri Hudler, Darren Helm and Mikael Samuelsson scored for the Red Wings, who will next face the Blackhawks in a matchup of Original Six teams.

Teemu Selanne and Corey Perry cut into deficits and Bobby Ryan made it 3-all at 7:37 of the third.