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  Wednesday, Jan. 26 7:30pm ET
Fedorov snaps scoring drought
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

DETROIT (AP) -- For one night, the Detroit Red Wings didn't have to rely on their top line for most of their scoring.

Sergei Fedorov scored his first goal since Dec. 20 and Chris Osgood made 30 saves as the Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 Wednesday night.

Curtis Joseph, Martin Lapointe
Toronto goalie Curtis Joseph dives to make a stop against Detroit's Martin Lapointe, center, as Alexander Karpovtsev follows.

Pat Verbeek, Nicklas Lidstrom and Kirk Maltby also scored for the Red Wings, who've won two straight after an 0-3-2 skid. Though they lead the Western Conference with 65 points, they're only 4-5-2 in January mainly because they've relied so much on their top line of Verbeek, Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan.

"In order to be successful you need everybody to contribute, and tonight they did," said Verbeek, whose first-period goal was his sixth in seven games. "Sergei played well tonight, everybody played well tonight. Anytime you win or are in position to win you have to get contributions from everybody."

Detroit coach Scotty Bowman noted his team is healthier than it has been most of the season, particularly up front with the returns of Fedorov, Kris Draper and Maltby from injury.

"I thought it made a difference having everybody back, especially Maltby because he's missed so much," Bowman said.

Maltby has been out most of the season after hernia surgery in October. His third-period breakaway goal was his first of the season.

Steve Thomas and Mats Sundin scored for Toronto.

The victory snapped the Red Wings' four-game winless streak (0-3-1) against Toronto and gave Detroit a 269-268-92 edge in the series.

"I don't think they had to play hard to win this hockey game," Sundin said. "When you come here and Detroit isn't playing their 'A' game and we wait for them to get it going, it's disappointing. It was a great opportunity for us that slipped away."

Toronto remained tied for second in the Eastern Conference with 63 points.

"I'd like to say we were lousy," Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn said. "We weren't lousy, but we weren't as sharp as you'd like, particularly our top players."

Fedorov, who hadn't scored in his last 11 games, gave Detroit a 3-1 lead in the second period. Fedorov missed Detroit's last three games because of a neck injury.

Osgood, 3-5-2 since missing 15 games with a broken hand, played his best game since he returned Jan. 2.

"The last eight periods or three games I've played, I've felt good like I'm getting it back," said Osgood, who was 11-2-3 before the injury. "It just takes a while. I feel like I'm back playing like I did."

Osgood's best saves were point-blank stops on Bryan Berard and Sundin.

"He didn't win the game for them, but I think they got the goaltending they expected from him," Quinn said.

Curtis Joseph made 29 saves for Toronto.

Thomas scored just 3:45 into the game when he one-timed Sundin's pass past Osgood.

Verbeek was standing just outside the crease when Brendan Shanahan's shot bounced off his chest and over Joseph for a power-play goal and a 1-1 tie with 1:29 left in the first.

Lidstrom put the Red Wings ahead 11:40 into the second when his blast from the top of the left circle beat Joseph on his stick side just inside the left post.

Fedorov ended his scoring drought with 2:09 left in the second period when he got open in front of the crease and converted a perfect pass from Yzerman. The goal came two seconds after Sundin came out of the penalty box from one of Toronto's three second-period penalties, including a double-minor.

"We got into penalty problems, and they're a good enough team to capitalize on that," Thomas said. "We've been getting some marginal calls lately, so I guess it's up to us to get more discipline."

After Maltby scored in the third, Sundin got his 23rd goal off a rebound with 1:56 left.

"It wasn't a high-quality game by either team, but we came out on the bad end of the stick," Quinn said. "We had a reasonable first period and then got into a whole lot of trouble with penalties in the second. I don't think our better players played very well."

 


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RECAPS
St. Louis 4
Ottawa 1

Washington 2
Calgary 1

Phoenix 0
Atlanta 0

Detroit 4
Toronto 2

New Jersey 3
Florida 2

Dallas 3
Los Angeles 1

NY Islanders 4
Anaheim 2

AUDIO/VIDEO
video
 Kirk Maltby scores his first goal of the season.
avi: 781 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1

 Nicklas Lidstrom scorches the net for the Wings.
avi: 708 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1

 Sergei Fedorov hits the top corner of the net.
avi: 926 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1