Detroit

DETROIT - The Flyers tried to protect a special segment in the franchise's history Sunday night. But despite the first two-goal game of Brayden Schenn's young career, it didn't happen. The Detroit Red Wings tied an NHL record with their 20th consecutive home win, 4-3, at the reverberating Joe Louis Arena. They equaled the record shared by the 1975-76 Flyers and 1929-30 Boston Bruins. Johan Franzen snapped a 3-3 tie just 52 seconds into the third period, taking a touch pass from Nicklas Lidstrom in front and tapping it past Sergei Bobrovsky.

The fun continues for Temple - barely. Khalif Wyatt scored 12 of the Owls' final 14 points Thursday night as Temple defeated Detroit, 83-78, at the Liacouras Center. It was Temple's fourth straight win. The victory gave the Owls (20-8) their sixth straight 20-win season to tie a school record for the most consecutive 20-win seasons. Most significant, they beat another quality opponent in the Titans (19-11), which could go a long way in securing an NCAA tournament at-large bid. But it was far from a picture perfect victory for the Owls, who battled back from an 11-point first-half deficit.

The Detroit Pistons no longer are the reigning NBA heavyweight champions, but they still can deliver the occasional knockout punch. Veteran guard Isiah Thomas landed the telling blow yesterday. His 16-foot jumper with 7.6 seconds remaining gave the Pistons an 89-88 victory over the New York Knicks and evened their best-of-five, first-round playoff series at one game apiece. Game 3 is tomorrow at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich. "When you play a game like this," Thomas said, "it's never a game of skills - it's a game of wills.

It's looking more and more like the real winners in the battle over radio personality Paul W. Smith are going to be the lawyers. On Friday, Smith, popular morning host on talk station WWDB-FM (96.5), said he "absolutely, definitely" is going back home to Detroit in the next few months to take over perhaps the plum job in Detroit radio - morning host on top-rated news/talk titan WJR-AM. "This is my dream job," declared Smith, 42, a suburban Detroit native who has idolized the man he would replace, J.P. McCarthy, since he was a young boy. McCarthy died in August.

Marian Hossa scored twice and Chris Osgood tied Dominik Hasek for 10th on the NHL career wins list in helping Detroit to a 4-1 victory over host Buffalo last night. Hossa, who reached the 40-goal plateau for the third time, added an assist. Brad Stuart and Nicklas Lidstrom also scored for the Central Division-leading Red Wings. With 111 points, Detroit, coming off a 3-2 win over Minnesota on Sunday, moved to within four points of league-leading San Jose. The Sabres' playoff chances grew slimmer as Buffalo lost its second straight.

It's official now. The Flyers are the Legion of Gloom. Detroit's 2-1 victory over the Flyers last night gave the Red Wings their first Stanley Cup in 42 years and ignited an emotional celebration inside Joe Louis Arena and on the streets surrounding it. Striving to win Philadelphia's first major professional sports title since 1983, the Flyers instead were swept out of the Stanley Cup finals in four one-sided losses. Defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom scored Game 4's first goal, another deflating long shot, in the final minute of the opening period.

The last time they closed Barney Topolawski's church, the police had to drag him out of the basement in handcuffs. That was in 1981, when General Motors bulldozed Poletown. GM wanted the old Detroit neighborhood for a plant, so the city moved 1,500 families out. Immaculate Conception was one of the last buildings to go. Topolawski and a dozen others held on, barricading themselves in for days without water or electricity. This time, he's not sure what he'll do. But he isn't going quietly.

Detroit's defense would not let the Pistons' season end. The Pistons got back to their swarming ways when the Miami Heat had the basketball, and Tayshaun Prince scored a career-playoff-high 29 points to lift Detroit to a 91-78 win last night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. Miami - which still leads the best-of-seven series, three games to two - did not score in the final 3 1/2 minutes as Detroit pulled away with the last nine points of the game. "They took their defense up to another level," Heat coach Pat Riley said in a televised press conference.

KHALIF WYATT is a scorer. That's his mentality. It's what he does best. Even when he struggles for, say, the opening 38 minutes. Following a first-half doughnut, at which point Temple trailed by eight, the Atlantic 10's top scorer hit the final 2 minutes Thursday night at the Liacouras Center with one field goal on 11 shots. Not coincidentally, the Owls were still down five to Detroit. Then, everything changed. Wyatt took over, as he's done before. Once again, the transformation was decisive.