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 Chicago Blackhawks to a 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night.
Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews also scored for Chicago, 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 3 1/2 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.
Notes: Detroit D Brian Rafalski didn't play because of the flu. That brought the total to eight regulars missing from the Red Wings' lineup Wednesday night because of injury or illness. Defenseman Jakub Kindl was recalled from Detroit's AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids for his second stint in Detroit this season to replace Rafalski. ... Detroit RW Mattias Ritola made his NHL debut. ... Chicago LW Ben Eager missed his fourth game with an upper-body injury and Blackhawks' D Cam Barker missed his third game with a lower-body injury. ... The Red Wings celebrated the 30th anniversary of Joe Louis Arena. ... Hockey Hall of Famer Gordie Howe carried the Winter Olympics torch for a short stint as it came through Windsor, Ontario, which is across the Detroit River from Detroit, on Wednesday. Howe was also in attendance at Wednesday night's game.
