Huet blocks Red Wings as Blackhawks soar

Chicago: The Chicago Blackhawks grabbed sole possession of first place in the Central Division with a 3-0 victory over the injury-hit Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.

Blackhawks goalie Cristobal Huet recorded his second consecutive shutout, stopping all 20 shots, to help Chicago win their fourth successive game.

"Even though they were missing a lot of guys, and key guys, they've been finding ways to win the past couple of weeks," Huet told reporters. "We knew it was going to be a tight game. We were very disciplined and it paid off."

The Red Wings were without leading scorer Henrik Zetterberg, centres Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula, winger Dan Cleary and defenceman Niklas Kronwall all through injury.

"They're missing a lot of guys. You could see they were pretty tired," Blackhawks' Brian Campbell said.

"It's a game we needed to win nonetheless, so it's important to get two points and keep climbing up the standings." The win pushed the Blackhawks two points ahead of the Nashville Predators, with Detroit third.

Duncan Keith's first-period power-play goal opened the scoring for Chicago with Campbell and Dustin Byfuglien adding scores in the second period.

"This was more of a good team effort, forwards and everybody helping out, playing solid defence," Byfuglien said.

The shutout was the second in seven games for the Red Wings, who host Chicago on Tuesday.

"Chicago didn't give us many opportunities," Detroit defenceman Brad Stuart said. "They were a step quicker all night because they have a lot of speed. Because of our injuries, our offence has been struggling..."

Results
home team in CAPS

CHICAGO 3 Detroit 0

St. Louis 3 VANCOUVER 1