Rumors, moves, injuries and newsmakers...

Red Wings' struggles; A point for Boston; The Price is right in Montreal; Tucker: Better late than never; Semin comes up big for the Caps; Corvo helps a Hurricanes comeback; and more...
WHEELS COMING OFF IN MOTOWN? 
The last time the Detroit Red Wings lost five in a row was November, 2006. At that time, three of the losses came in overtime or a shootout. Over the past five games, the Red Wings have failed to win--losing once in overtime and most recently on home ice by a 5-1 count against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Wings stars have not necessarily played poorly recently. Henrik Zetterberg has points in four of their five losses, as does linemate Pavel Datsyuk. Nicklas Lidstrom has pitched in with six points from the back end over that stretch.

So what is the problem with the mighty Wings, who have only one of a potential 10 points over the course of this losing streak? It seems to be more of a combined team problem than something that can be attributed to any one or two individuals. However, Chris Osgood has looked shaky between the pipes.

Besides allowing 19 goals in five games, the Wings have lost their scoring touch at even strength--where they haven't scored in the past three games. The first period has been the worst period for the Wings recently; in the past five games, they have been outscored 9-3, including 6-0 over the past two contests.

Look for coach Mike Babcock to have his team poised for a fast start on Sunday in Dallas against the Stars, in an attempt to curtail the downward spiral.

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BRUINS 
After an afternoon loss by eighth-place Buffalo, the Boston Bruins skated out for their game against Toronto knowing that two points would put them back in a playoff spot. While visions of leap-frogging the Sabres into eighth surely danced in their heads, and leading 2-1 with almost five minutes remaining in the third, the Bruins allowed two late goals by the Maple Leafs. They found themselves fighting against the clock going into the last minute of play when captain Zdeno Chara found a loose puck between three Leafs and goaltender Vesa Toskala on the lip of the crease and scored. Chara earned the Bruins a point that has locked them into a tie for the eighth and final playoff spot with Buffalo. That's because the B's lost in overtime and failed to capture the extra point. Chara's goal and assist moved him into second place in points on the Bruins with 41. Glen Murray also had two points for the Bruins, as he usually plays well against the Leafs. This season alone, he has five points in four games versus Toronto. The Bruins play next against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.

CANADIENS 
Carey Price needed only one goal from his team to get the win over Philadelphia Saturday, as the Habs won 1-0 on a second-period power-play goal by Andrei Kostitsyn. Alex Kovalev and Andrei Markov assisted on the goal. Price saved his best for last, stopping a barrage of Flyers shots in the third--15 in total--for his first NHL shutout. The Flyers peppered Price with 34 on the night, five off the stick of defenseman Kimmo Timonen.

CAPITALS 
Alexander Ovechkin did not score his 50th goal but the Capitals got an important 3-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night. The win allowed them to keep pace with Carolina, who currently leads the division, and ties them with Atlanta for second in the Southeast with 62 points. Alexander Semin scored the game-winner with exactly three minutes to go on this night. It was the second point for Semin, and his second game-winning goal of the season. Olaf Kolzig faced 41 shots, allowing two goals. Defenseman Tom Poti missed his second straight game with a lower body injury.

DEVILS 
Arron Asham scored two goals for the first time since January, 2007 on Saturday night in Ottawa. His output, combined with Zach Parise's goal was just enough to take out the Senators by a 3-2 score. Parise has points in his past three games and now has a goal and an assist in his past two games against Ottawa. Rearguard Paul Martin had two assists in the win. The Devils won the game despite fairing poorly in the face-off circle. Travis Zajac was 42 per-cent of his draws, which was the best on the night in that category for the Devils.

HURRICANES 
Down 4-2 in the third period, the Hurricanes stormed back to win 5-4 over the Florida Panthers Saturday. Defenseman Joe Corvo assisted on the game-winner that came off the stick of Ray Whitney late in the third period. It was Corvo's second assist since being acquired from Ottawa. Eric Staal, Trevor Letowski and Andrew Ladd all had two points apiece in the Hurricanes' win. Carolina activated forward Matt Cullen prior to the game. It only took him 3:21 to make his presence felt, as he assisted on the opening goal by enforcer Wade Brookbank. Cullen was out with a concussion and blurred vision; he missed seven games. Cullen is fourth in team scoring with nine goals and 40 assists in 45 games. Sergei Samsonov scored his sixth goal since being acquired by Gm Jim Rutherford on re-entry waivers five weeks ago. Defenseman Joey Mormina was sent back to the Albany River Rats (AHL), after playing in his NHL debut against Pittsburgh on Valentine's Day.

ISLANDERS 
There were 59 total shots on goal between the Islanders and Thrashers on Saturday, all but 10 belonging to the Isles--which is why they won 4-1. Nearing the midway point of the third, after Sean Bergenheim scored the fourth Islanders goal, all that was on the line was a shutout for goaltender Rick DiPietro. However, the Thrashers scored with 1:21 left in the contest on one of their 10 shots. As consolation to DiPietro, he recorded an assist in the win--his first this season--on the Bergenheim goal. The energetic Finn also had an assist on the night and now has 15 points in 54 games this season. Ruslan Fedotenko's 13th goal of the season was the game-winner, his third of the year. Fedotenko now totals 30 points on the year.

LIGHTNING 
The Lightning tied Saturday's game against the Capitals with 3:38 left in the third period, and probably felt they were in a good spot to at least grab a point in the Southeast Division race. However, 38 seconds later they were right back where they started, as the Caps went back ahead 3-2 with three minutes to go. That is the way it would end up. Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier had assists in the loss. Vaclav Prospal had a goal and four shots on net, while defenseman Paul Ranger led the team in ice time--registering over 25 minutes.

MAPLE LEAFS 
Darcy Tucker can be accused of pouring it on a little too late for the Maple Leafs. Saturday night, he did that literally, tying the game on a five-on-three power play late in the third and then setting up what he thought was going to be the go-ahead goal by Nik Antropov less than two minutes later. But the Bruins tied the game late, so Tucker found the net himself and won the game for the Blue and White. Tucker;s two goals and an assist were his most points in any game this season. He now has six goals in four games. Kyle Wellwood got the second assist on the Antropov goal and played over 12 minutes for the first time in five games.

PANTHERS 
Stephen Weiss had a two-game point streak interrupted by the flu earlier this week. Since missing one game, he hasn't missed a beat. In the two games he has played since his bout with the flu, he has continued his point streak. Weiss had two assists in a loss to the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday, but left the game early because of a hand injury. Nathan Horton scored twice, giving him 20 for the third straight season. Captain Olli Jokinen had an assist, giving him 60 points for the third time in four years.

RANGERS 
It was as though all Sean Avery thought about in during the Rangers' five-day break between games was scoring goals. That's because it only took 10 seconds for the volatile forward to find the net in a Saturday afternoon game versus the Buffalo Sabres. Avery scored twice in the 5-1 win, giving him eight on the year. Henrik Lundqvist played well with the ink still wet on the contract extension he signed earlier this week, stopping 29 shots. The star of this game was center Brandon Dubinsky, who had three points. Rookie Dubinsky has been a great addition to the Rangers this year, and now totals 26 points in 60 games.

SABRES 
Ryan Miller started in the net versus the Rangers Saturday afternoon but finished the game watching from the bench. Miller allowed four goals on 11 shots and played just the first 12:25 of the contest. Jocelyn Thibault finished the game for Buffalo, playing 47:34 and stopping 20 of 21 shots. Thomas Vanek had the lone Buffalo goal, his sixth in five games. Defenseman Jaroslav Spacek had an assist but was minus-4, along with partner Brian Campbell.

SENATORS 
Senators GM Bryan Murray traded for Cory Stillman earlier this week for secondary scoring. Stillman did his best to prove his worth on Saturday, as he along with Antoine Vermette assisted on a Chris Kelly goal with just over seven minutes remaining in the third period against the Devils. It wasn't enough, as the Sens fell 3-2 to visiting New Jersey. It was Stillman's second assist in three games with Ottawa. Kelly had not scored since February 5 against Montreal, a span of four games before netting goal No. 11 on the year. Jason Spezza opened the scoring for the Sens with Daniel Alfredsson getting the lone assist.