Darling milestone, Richards goal get Blackhawks past Rangers

New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Scott Darling halted all 25 shots he faced to post his first career shutout and Chicago gained a measure of revenge over the New York Rangers with a 1-0 decision at Madison Square Garden.

"I'm just thrilled; it's an amazing stage to [get a shutout] at Madison Square Garden," Darling said. "It feels great to just get back in the net and do my job. This is one of the most famous arenas in the world."

Brad Richards registered the lone score for the Blackhawks, who suffered a 1-0 overtime defeat to the Metropolitan Division leaders at United Center 10 days earlier.

Chicago, which is chasing Nashville and St. Louis for the Central Division lead, has won four in a row.

Cam Talbot made 30 saves for the Rangers, whose five-game win streak came to a halt.

"I felt like I was seeing the puck well and controlling the puck pretty well," Talbot said.

Seconds after Blueshirt defenseman Dan Boyle's drive clanged off the crossbar, former Rangers center Richards produced the game's only goal on a wraparound from the right side at 7:19 of the third.

"I was looking to make a play, but for whatever reason I guess they thought I was passing it and I got time to kind of wait and figured I may as well shoot myself," Richards offered.

Patrick Sharp could have extended the lead for Chicago, but misfired on a contested break on the ensuing shift.

The Blackhawks successfully killed a tripping call to Niklas Hjalmarsson beginning with 4:04 to go, and Talbot wasn't called to the bench until just over one minute showed.

Darling needed to make one more stop to preserve his achievement, and watched a Ryan McDonagh shot sail high and wide at the buzzer.

Rick Nash was denied his chance to put the Rangers ahead with 7:20 left in the first, foiled by the sudden contortions of Darling on a breakaway.

It was the most spectacular of his eight first-period stops, and preceded seven more in a scoreless second period.

Game Notes

Darling improved to 7-3-0 with the Blackhawks this year, in addition to his 14-8-2 record with Rockford of the American Hockey League ... The Rangers fell to 7-2-1 when wearing their "Heritage Sweaters" ... Chicago blanked New York on the road for the first time since Oct. 22, 1997 (1-0), when Eric Daze posted the lone goal and Chris Terreri finished with a 31-save effort.