Darling Comes Up Big for Blackhawks, Predators Beat Blues

By ESPN

Scott Darling is more comfortable in his second full NHL season and he's been coming up big for the Chicago Blackhawks with starting goalie Corey Crawford out.

Darling stopped 33 shots, Artem Anisimov scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period and the Central Division-leading Blackhawks beat the New York Rangers 2-1 on Tuesday night.

Darling has started the last six games while Crawford has been recovering from an appendectomy. Darling has been stellar over the last four games, allowed just three goals on 116 shots while helping the Blackhawks go 3-0-1.

"You just get into a rhythm, you get comfortable, not as nervous," said Darling, who upped his record to 7-2-2 this season. "You can just relax and have fun out there. ... Last year was my first full year. I was still nervous about my role, my position within the organization. Coming back now, I'm not one of the new guys, I've been here for 2 1/2 years."

The Rangers had some chances in the final minutes, but Darling stopped Mats Zuccarello's slap shot with about 3 minutes to go, and then a tip-in attempt by Jimmy Vesey less than a minute later.

"The guys did a good job of keeping a lot of it from the outside," Darling said. "They had their chances and so did we. ... It was a fun game, a great hockey game and a big two points."

Predators 6, Blues 3

Down by three goals early in the second period, Nashville looked to its captain to turn the tide.

Mike Fisher scored twice and the Predators rallied to beat the St. Louis Blues 6-3 on Tuesday night.

"Yeah, it's a great effort, being down like that and finding a way to come back and playing really good in the second and third period -- against a great team, too, a division rival," Fisher said. "That was a big win."

James Neal, Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen and Mike Ribeiro also scored for Nashville, which snapped a two-game skid.

After trailing 3-0, the Predators scored six straight goals to earn their 10th home victory of the season.

"You're not going to come back a lot of nights from 3-0. So the fact that we were able to, from the time James scored until the end of the game, play the style the way we needed to in order to be successful, was a positive," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said.

Kevin Shattenkirk, Ryan Reaves and Brad Hunt scored for St. Louis, which lost three of four on its road trip.

"It's always tough being at the end of a road trip, but we've been a good road team here over the last few years," Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "You can't use that as an excuse."

With the game tied at 3, Colin Wilson carried the puck down the left side. Wilson waited as Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson slid along the ice in an attempt to take away his passing lane. Wilson slid a pass around Edmundson's skate and found Fisher in the low slot, where the Predators' captain beat goalie Jake Allen with a one-timer at 9:02 of the third.

Tuesday, December 13 Scoreboard

Buffalo 6, Los Angeles 3

Washington 4, New York Islanders 2

Chicago 2, New York Rangers 1

Carolina 8, Vancouver 6

San Jose 3, Toronto 2 (SO)

Arizona 4, Detroit 1

Nashvhille 6, St. Louis 3

Minnesota 5, Florida 1

Dallas 6, Anaheim 2

Columbus 3, Edmonton 1

Wednesday, December 14 Schedule (All Times Central)

San Jose at Ottawa, 6 p.m.

Boston at Pittsburgh, 6:30 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Calgary, 8:30 p.m.

Philadelphia at Colorado, 9 p.m.