HOCKEY

May 12, 2009 Last Updated: May 12, 2009 02:31 PM Scoreboard

By The Associated Press

All Times EDT

CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

(Best-of-7)

Monday, May 11

Washington 5, Pittsburgh 4, OT, series tied 3-3

Chicago 7, Vancouver 5, Chicago wins series 4-2

Tuesday, May 12

Boston at Carolina, 7 p.m., Detroit leads series 3-2

Detroit at Anaheim, 10 p.m., Detroit leads series 3-2

Wednesday, May 13

Pittsburgh at Washington, 7 p.m.

At PittsburghBy The Associated PressAt PittsburghWashington 0 2 2 1—5Pittsburgh 1 1 2 0—4First Period—1, Pittsburgh, Guerin 4 (Crosby, Kunitz), 5:55.Second Period—2, Washington, Kozlov 3 (Ovechkin, Morrisonn), 6:27. 3, Washington, Fleischmann 3 (Fedorov, Semin), 14:42. 4, Pittsburgh, Eaton 4 (Malkin, Boucher), 19:26 (pp).Third Period—5, Pittsburgh, Letang 2 (Goligoski, Malkin), 4:40 (pp). 6, Washington, Semin 6 (Ovechkin, Laich), 5:38 (pp). 7, Washington, Kozlov 4 (Backstrom, Ovechkin), 6:07. 8, Pittsburgh, Crosby 10 (Orpik, Malkin), 15:42.First Overtime—9, Washington, Steckel 3 (Laich, Bradley), 6:22.Shots on Goal—Washington 5-6-9-4—24. Pittsburgh 18-7-14-3—42.Goalies—Washington, Varlamov. Pittsburgh, Fleury. A—17,132 (16,940). T—2:47.

By The Associated PressFirst RoundApril 16 — Chicago 3, Calgary 2, OT, Martin Havlat, :12.April 17 — Carolina 2, New Jersey 1, OT, Tim Gleason, 2:40.April 17 — Pittsburgh 3, Philadelphia, 2, OT, Bill Guerin, 19:29.April 19 — New Jersey 3, Carolina 2, OT, Travis Zajac, 4:58.April 21 — Vancouver 3, St. Louis 2, OT, Alex Burrows, 19:41.April 25 — San Jose 3, Anaheim 2, OT, Patrick Marleau, 6:02.Conference SemifinalsMay 3 — Anaheim 4, Detroit 3, 3OT, Todd Marchant, 1:15.May 6 — Pittsburgh 3, Washington 2, OT, Kris Letang, 11:33.May 6 — Carolina 3, Boston 2, OT, Jussi Jokinen, 2:48.May 7 — Chicago 2, Vancouver 1, OT, Andrew Ladd, 2:52.May 9 — Pittsburgh 4, Washington 3, OT, Evgeni Malkin, 3:28.May 11 — Washington 5, Pittsburgh 4, OT, Dave Steckel 3, 6:22.

SCOREBOARDTuesday, May 12Detroit at Anaheim (10 p.m. EDT). The defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings can return to the Western Conference finals with a win in Game 6. The Ducks will try to force a deciding game back in Detroit.STARSMonday• David Steckel, Capitals, scored on a deflection of Brooks Laich's shot and Washington finally won an overtime playoff game, beating Pittsburgh 5-4 to force a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference semifinals.• Viktor Kozlov and Alex Ovechkin, Capitals. Kozlov scored twice and Ovechkin had three assists as Washington forced a Game 7 at home.• Patrick Kane, Blackhawks, had his first hat trick, leading Chicago to a 7-5 win over Vancouver and into the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1995.• Daniel Sedin, Canucks, had a pair of goals, but Vancouver lost the final three games of the series to Chicago.SWINGSThe Capitals were losers in their previous seven overtime games before beating Pittsburgh 5-4 to force a Game 7 in their Eastern Conference semifinal ... Chicago advanced to the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1995 by beating Vancouver in six games.STATSThe Capitals' 5-4 victory at Pittsburgh was the third overtime game of the series, the most in any round of these NHL playoffs. Also, the Penguins had won eight of their previous nine overtime games and had been 7-1 against the Capitals in OT ... Combining regular season and six playoff games, the Blackhawks announced they had drawn 1,006,920 fans so far this season.GOING NOWHEREOne of the Thrashers' owners, Bruce Levenson, said "there is no truth to the rumor" the ownership group has been involved in discussions about taking the team out of Atlanta, including with a Vancouver group reportedly interested in relocating the Thrashers to Hamilton, Ontario.GOING NOWHERE, IIMike Modano is coming back for his 20th NHL season. The Dallas Stars forward, the highest-scoring U.S.-born player in NHL history, said Monday he would play in 2009-10. Modano, who turns 39 next month, is already under contract for $2.25 million next season, the last of a five-year deal. He would have gotten $750,000 if he retired. Modano had 15 goals and 31 assists in 80 games last season, and his 543 career goals and 1,329 points are tops for U.S. natives. He holds every significant franchise scoring mark and has led the club to three Stanley Cup finals, winning the title in 1999.CALL HIM COACHThe Tampa Bay Lightning made Rick Tocchet their full-time coach, lifting the interim tag and giving him a multiyear contract. The former NHL forward took over in mid-November after Barry Melrose was fired. Tampa Bay went 19-33-14 under Tocchet.FINEDCarolina forward Scott Walker will not be suspended but was fined $2,500 by the NHL for throwing a punch that may have broken a bone in Boston defenseman Aaron Ward's face. Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said the automatic suspension given to Walker was rescinded during a hearing with league disciplinarian Colin Campbell. It was ruled the hit was not a "sucker punch" in Boston's 4-0 victory Sunday.SPEAKING"I've made my decision and I'm coming back to play. I think everyone eventually knew I was going to come back, but I still wanted to take some time and think about things. Watching everyone else playing in the playoffs helped push me to make the decision. This is the best time of year." — Mike Modano, the career scoring leader among U.S.-born players, on his decision to return to the Dallas Stars for his 20th season."I think it's going to be great game. I think the league wants us to play Game 7 (on Wednesday)." — Capitals right wing Alex Ovechkin after Washington won Game 6 at Pittsburgh 5-4 in overtime.