Blackhawks back to form in shutout

Crawford’s 35 saves pace Chicago in 3-0 win over Philadelphia

Corey Crawford made 35 saves in his first shutout of the season, and the Chicago Blackhawks stopped a three-game slide with a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night.

Artem Anisimov and Jonathan Toews scored 20 seconds apart in the second and Crawford took over from there, helping Chicago kill off three Philadelphia power plays in the last half of the game. Rookie Alex DeBrincat added an empty-net goal with 1:49 left in Crawford’s 22nd career shutout. Brian Elliott made 32 stops for Philadelphia.

Chicago came up empty on its first four power plays before Anisimov delivered in the second. With Brandon Manning in the box for holding Ryan Hartman, the rugged center skated behind the Flyers’ penalty killers and slammed home a rebound for a 1-0 lead at 8:58.

Toews then blocked shot a near the blue line and skated in alone on Elliott. The captain slipped a backhander between the goaltender’s legs. That was more than enough for Crawford, who came up with a couple of big stops as Philadelphia pressed for a score in the third.

He made his best save of the night with 1:45 left in the first, doing the splits to get over for a pad stop on Valtteri Filppula’s wraparound.

PENGUINS 3, OILERS 2 >> Evgeni Malkin’s tiebreaking power-play goal in the third period lifted the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night.

Patric Hornqvist and Conor Sheary also scored for the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins, and Matt Murray stopped 35 shots. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Leon Draisaitl had goals for the Oilers, who have lost four of their last five games. Cam Talbot finished with 27 saves.

Malkin tucked a wrist shot under Talbot’s arm on the power play with 7:37 remaining in the third. Murray made a big save on Nugent-Hopkins in tight with 13 seconds to go to preserve the win.

DEVILS 2, CANUCKS 0 >> Jimmy Hayes broke a scoreless tie in the second period and Drew Stafford added a third-period goal to lead New Jersey, which got 37 saves from Cory Schneider.