NEW YORK — Patrick Sharp made his first game against his former team, the Chicago Blackhawks, quite memorable with a goal and an assist and Antti Niemi stopped all 20 shots he faced to earn his 35th career shutout in a 4-0 Dallas Stars win at American Airlines Center Tuesday.
Sharp, acquired by Dallas in a trade last summer after spending 10 seasons in Chicago, scored his 12th goal of the season 11 seconds into the third period to add an insurance marker.
Colton Sceviour, Jason Spezza and Mattias Janmark also scored for Dallas, which won its third straight. Jason Demers had two assists for Dallas and it was Niemi’s third shutout of the season
Blues 2, Bruins 0
St. Louis hit the Christmas break with a victory over Boston for its fourth win in the last five games.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Robby Fabbri scored third-period goals and Jake Allen stopped 32 shots for his fifth shutout of the season as the Blues won their fifth straight game at TD Garden.
The Bruins, suffering only their second regulation loss in their last 16 games, were blanked for the first time this season and saw their three-game winning streak stopped.
Rangers 3, Ducks 2 (OT)
Brassard scored twice and assisted on Mats Zuccarello’s overtime winner as the New York Rangers snapped a three-game slide with a victory against Anaheim at Madison Square Garden.
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 17 shots to help give the Rangers their fourth victory in 15 games.
Corey Perry and Rickard Rakell scored for the Ducks, who have lost four of five. John Gibson made 19 saves.
Canucks 2, Lightning 1
Vancouver weathered 10 power plays from Tampa Bay, and when they finally got a minute of full-strength play, Henrik Sedin fed his twin brother, Daniel Sedin for the deciding goal in a road win at Amalie Arena.
Sven Baertschi scored the other goal for the Canucks while Jonathan Marchessault scored for the Lightning.
Devils 4, Red Wings 3
A three-goal outburst in the first period led to a New Jersey win vs. Detroit at Joe Louis Arena.
Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist and Jordin Tootoo, David Schlemko and center Kalinin scored for the Devils. Cory Schneider made 25 saves.
Dylan Larkin, Mike Green and Riley Sheahan scored for the Red Wings and Jimmy Howard made three saves on six shots before being pulled in favor of Petr Mrazek late in the first period. Mrazek stopped 10 shots.
Panthers 2, Senators 1 (SO)
Brandon Pirri and Aleksander Barkov scored in the shootout as Florida beat Ottawa at BB&T Center.
Corban Knight scored in regulation for the Panthers, and Jaromir Jagr and Quinton Howden had assists. Mark Stone scored a power-play goal on assists from Erik Karlsson and Mika Zibanejad for Ottawa.
Craig Anderson made 39 saves for Ottawa. Florida’s Roberto Luongo stopped 15 shots.
Wild 2, Canadiens 1
Minnesota used plenty of defense and just enough offense to snap a losing streak, beating Montreal.
In other games it was: Coyotes 3, Maple Leafs 2; Flames 4, Jets 1; Sharks 5, Kings 3.
