Sports: Wings on track with 3-2 Win

The Detroit Red Wings beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 last night in the regular season home finale at the Joe Louis Arena.   Henrik Zetterberg, Gustav Nyquist, and Pavel Datsyuk all scored for Detroit.  Jimmy Howard turned aside 30 shots in the win, including 16 in the final period.  Forward Justin Abdelkader missed last night's game with an upper body injury and is listed as day-to-day.  The win gives the Wings 97 points, which puts them in the sixth playoff spot in the East with 2 games remaining.

The Ottawa Senators beat Pittsburgh 4-3 in overtime to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The Red Wings have two games left: one at Montreal on Thursday, and they finish the regular season at Carolina on Saturday.

College Basketball

The Connecticut women's basketball team is celebrating a third straight national championship.  Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Moriah Jefferson scored 15 points apiece as the Huskies knocked off Notre Dame, 63-53, in the title game in Tampa,Florida.  It's U-Conn's 10th championship overall, all under head coach Geno Auriemma, tying him with UCLA's John Wooden for most all-time in college basketball.

Tigers

The Tigers and Twins are back in action today. The Tigers and Twins play game two of a three game series at Comerica Park this afternoon. Broadcast time is 12:40 p.m.  Anibal Sanchez is set to make his 2015 debut for the Tigers today and the Twins will counter with Ricky Nolasco.

Verlander May Not Pitch Sunday

Starter Justin Verlander may not make his first start of the season as expected in Cleveland this weekend.  Detroit officials said last week that he would go on the disabled list with a right triceps strain, but the club did not put him on the DL yesterday, which would have made him eligible to return Sunday against the Indians.  Verlander reportedly had some issues during a bullpen session and the team wants him to pitch to batters before he is back in the lineup.  Kyle Lobstein may be called up from Triple-A Toledo to make the start on Sunday in Cleveland.

KCC Baseball

The KCC Bruins swept a pair from Ancilla in baseball, 5-0 and 4-0.  Alex Holley was 2-4 with 2 RBI’s in game 1, and Tyler Bradner went  2-4 with a home run in game 2.  Kyle Mallwitz pitched a complete-game shutout, and Joe Wolf and Walter Graf combined for a shutout in game 2. KCC is now 7-1 in conference play.

KCC Softball

The Lady Bruins also swept a pair, from Davenport University, 4-1 and 5-1.  They’re now 11-1 in conference play. Holly Van Tilburg is now 9-1 after the game 1 win. Anora Seita got the win in game two.

Pistons

The Detroit Pistons host the Boston Celtics tonight at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Detroit has lost three of its last five, but is coming off a 99-98 win over Miami on Saturday.  Pistons center Greg Monroe is expected to be back in the lineup tonight against the Celtics after missing 11 games with a knee injury.

Baseball Payrolls

USA Today calculated the Los Angeles Dodgers’ payroll at $269 million.

• New York Yankees       $219 million
• Boston Red Sox           $175 million
• San Francisco Giants  $173.2 million
• Detroit Tigers               $172.8 million
• Washington Nationals $166 million

At the bottom are:

• New York Mets          $100.1 million
• Miami Marlins              $69.2 million
• Houston Astros           $69.1 million

The average opening-day salary for MLB players breaks records this year too, reaching $4.2 million. That is up 6.3% from last year and up 15% from two years ago.

Lions Could Lose Another Defensive Lineman

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers say they've signed Detroit Lions defensive end George Johnson to a three-year contract. The terms of the deal have not been announced, but as a restricted free agent, the Lions have five days to match the offer.  2014 was a breakout campaign for Johnson. He finished the year with 29 tackles and six sacks.

The Masters

Four-time winner Tiger Woods makes his return to the PGA Tour this week at The Masters.  The first major of the season begins Thursday at famed Augusta National. Woods is playing for the first time since early February at Torrey Pines after taking time off to work on his game.