CHICAGO: Cristobal Huet made 20 saves for his second straight shutout, and Duncan Keith had a goal and an assist to lead the Chicago Blackhawks to their fourth victory in a row, 3-0 over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday night.
Brian Campbell and Dustin Byfuglien also scored to help Chicago move back into first place in the Central Division. Detroit, shut out for the fourth time in its last 15 games, has lost two straight.
Huet, also a 3-0 winner over St. Louis on Wednesday night, had to make only a handful of tough saves against the injury-depleted Red Wings en route to his third shutout this season, 23rd overall and first against Detroit.
On Detroit’s two best chances, Huet made a glove save on Ville Leino late in the first period, and a pad save on Brad Stuart midway through the second. Detroit’s Chris Osgood stopped 32 shots.
The Red Wings played without eight regulars, including scoring leader Henrik Zetterberg. He missed his second game because of a shoulder injury and will be out at least two weeks.
Blackhawks right wing Marian Hossa played his first game against the Red Wings, his previous team, since signing as a free agent with Chicago in July. Hossa skated with Detroit in 2008-09 on a one-year contract.
Hossa was recovering from offseason shoulder surgery when Detroit beat Chicago 3-2 on Oct. 8 in the teams’ only previous meeting this season.
Chicago dominated most of the the first period and led 1-0 after 20 minutes on Keith’s power-play goal at 7:58. Keith’s quick wrist shot from the left point fooled Osgood and sailed past him on the glove side.
Campbell and Byfuglien scored in a 3:22 span late in the second period.
Campbell scored with 3:55 left in the second. He pinched to the left circle, took Patrick Sharp’s feed and fired a shot that struck Osgood on the stick side and continued into the net. Byfuglien’s 40-foot shot from the slot slid under Osgood’s outstretched right pad with 33 second left in the period.
Blues beat Canucks
In Vancouver, British Columbia, David Backes scored twice, and Ty Conklin made 29 saves to help the St. Louis Blues beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 on Sunday night.
Backes opened the scoring on an early power-play deflection and put the Blues back ahead 2-1 with a great individual effort with 8:12 left in the second period.
He raced around defenseman Kevin Bieksa off the left wing, cut hard to the net and tucked the puck past goalie Roberto Luongo on the far side.
Keith Tkachuk doubled the lead 1:27 later and the Blues won for the second time in five games to move out of last place in the Western Conference.
Shane O’Brien scored his first goal in more than two seasons as Vancouver lost for just the second time in six games on a season-high eight-game homestand.
Luongo made 23 saves for the Canucks, coming off a big win over Washington on Friday and looking to move into a playoff position in the Western Conference for the first time all season. Instead they fell behind early.
The Blues’ 30th-ranked power play converted its first opportunity 2:59 into the game, with Backes tipping Paul Kariya’s high shot off the rush past Luongo.
Conklin made a handful of great saves in the first period, robbing Tanner Glass, Ryan Kesler and Mikeal Samuelsson from close range, and making a sliding stop on Kevin Bieksa. O’Brien finally beat him with 2:45 left in the period after a give-and-go play with Samuelsson sent him in alone in tight. O’Brien s quick shot through Conklin’s legs trickled over the goal line for his first goal in 165 games.
After Backes put the Blues ahead again, Tkachuk extended the lead after a lucky bounce. Barret Jackman’s dump-in took a funny hop off the end boards and went right in front to Brad Boyes, who fed Tkachuk for a backdoor tap-in.
Alex Burrows appeared to pull the Canucks within a goal 5 minutes into the third period, but it was waved off because he redirected Henrik Sedin’s pass with his back skate, a call that was upheld after a lengthy video review.
