Blackhawks 3, Detroit 0
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Antti Niemi made 33 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and his career, and Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist to lift the Blackhawks to a 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night.
Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews also scored for the Blackhawks, which also shut out Detroit 3-0 on Sunday night in Chicago behind Cristobal Huet.
Jimmy Howard stopped 28 shots for Detroit, which has gone 2 hours, 21 minutes without a goal.
It was also Marian Hossa’s first game in Detroit after leaving the Red Wings last summer to sign a 12-year, $62 million free agent contract with the Blackhawks. He received a loud chorus of boos when his name was announced as part of the starting lineups and was also booed each time he touched the puck. Hossa hit the crossbar on a breakaway with a little more than 31/2 minutes left in the first period and assisted on Sharp’s goal.
Kane opened the scoring 30 seconds into the second period with a power-play goal. He beat Howard with a slap shot from the top of the left circle with Troy Brouwer screening the Detroit goalie for Kane’s 12th goal.
Sharp scored 3:47 into the third period when he jammed one in off a goalmouth scramble with the teams playing 4-on-4. It was Sharp’s 11th goal.
Toews scored with 1:18 left.
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Hossa hopeful
Slovakia will announce its roster for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games on Tuesday and Hawks winger Marian Hossa is expected to be on it. The only way he wouldn’t play in his third Olympic Games would be if he’s having problems with the surgically repaired shoulder that caused the veteran to miss the start of the season.
“I should be there if I’m healthy and 100 percent,” said Hossa, who added that he has been in contact with former NHL player Peter Bondra, now the general manager for Team Slovakia.
– Defenseman Cam Barker (lower body) and winger Ben Eager (upper body) were scratches for the Hawks against the Wings.