CHICAGO _ The Blackhawks broke a tie, a drought and the ice when Cody Franson sneaked the puck past Flyers goalie Brian Elliott with 11 minutes, 2 seconds remaining in the second period Wednesday.
Thirty seconds after Franson scored his team's second power-play goal in its last 25 chances, Jonathan Toews beat Elliott between the legs to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead.
The 3-0 final score, the team's first shutout of the season, came courtesy of Alex DeBrincat's empty-net goal with 1:49 left in the third. The victory halted the Hawks' losing streak at three games.
Neither team packed much of a punch during a scoreless first period, though, when the Blackhawks' Connor Murphy hit the Flyers' Taylor Leier before the Flyers' Scott Laughton dropped his gloves and tried to hit Murphy.
Both fell to the ice, then made their way to the penalty box for a five-minute punishment.
Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford preserved the zero on the Flyers' side of the scoreboard late in the first when he stopped Valtteri Filppula's wraparound. And for the rest of the game, when he made 35 saves
Not long after Murphy and Laughton faced off, the Blackhawks (6-5-2) went on the power play. Franson nearly put a one on the board for the Hawks, but Elliott temporarily stopped the puck and froze the score at 0-0.
The Flyers fell to 6-6-1.
