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CHICAGO (AP) Corey Crawford made 35 saves in his first shutout of the season, and the Chicago Blackhawks stopped a three-game slide with a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night.

Artem Anisimov and Jonathan Toews scored 20 seconds apart in the second and Crawford took over from there, helping Chicago kill off three Philadelphia power plays in the last half of the game. Rookie Alex DeBrincat added an empty-net goal with 1:49 left in Crawford's 22nd career shutout.

Brian Elliott made 32 stops for Philadelphia, which was coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to lowly Arizona on Monday. The Flyers have dropped four of five heading into Thursday night's game at Central Division-leading St. Louis.

Chicago had dropped five of six, prompting coach Joel Quenneville to juggle his lines and defensive pairings in search of a spark. Quenneville also had his team do sprints at the end of practice on Tuesday after he grew frustrated with the effort by the players.

The Blackhawks responded with a workmanlike effort while improving to 4-2-1 at home.

Chicago came up empty on its first four power plays before Anisimov delivered in the second. With Brandon Manning in the box for holding Ryan Hartman, the rugged center skated behind the Flyers' penalty killers and slammed home a rebound for a 1-0 lead at 8:58.

Anisimov's fourth goal of the season was the Blackhawks' first successful power play since Richard Panik scored at Arizona on Oct. 21. They were unsuccessful in their previous 18 chances.

Toews then blocked shot a near the blue line and skated in alone on Elliott. The captain slipped a backhander between the goaltender's legs for his first goal since Oct. 12 against Minnesota, stopping a seven-game drought.

That was more than enough for Crawford, who came up with a couple of big stops as Philadelphia pressed for a score in the third. He made his best save of the night with 1:45 left in the first, doing the splits to get over for a pad stop on Valtteri Filppula's wraparound.

NOTES: Flyers D Radko Gudas suffered an upper-body injury in the first and did not return to the game. ... Chicago D Connor Murphy's father, Gord, is an assistant coach for Philadelphia. ... The Blackhawks and Flyers play again on Nov. 9 in Philadelphia, finishing their two-game season series.

UP NEXT

Flyers: Visit St. Louis on Thursday night.

Blackhawks: Visit Minnesota on Saturday night.

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The Edmonton Oilers may be struggling, but Connor McDavid remains out of this world.

McDavid put his unparalleled skill on full display Wednesday, dangling past Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta before dishing a perfect no-look pass to Leon Draisaitl, who calmly deposited the puck into the back of the net, giving the Oilers a 2-1 lead.

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Father Time, even up against the finest of modern-era NHL dynasties, is undefeated. And while his inevitable, debilitating game plan hasn't completely knocked the Chicago Blackhawks off their perch of perennial success, the symptoms of his impending victory are starting to seep through the cracks of the club's once invincible armor.

The Blackhawks won three Stanley Cups between 2010-2015 and established the blueprint for building a champion in today's NHL: find talent year after year in the draft, and groom them into becoming a cohesive unit.

Now, unfortunately, with the luster of their championships fading farther and farther away in their rear-view mirrors, the Blackhawks have become the poster boys of how difficult it is to keep a title-contending roster intact while complying with the restrictions of the salary cap.

The one constant Chicago's maintained in its personnel, over years of roster changeover, is the team's core. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, and Marian Hossa authored an unforgettable generation of success in the Windy City, sticking with the club while several pieces of the Stanley Cup-winning puzzle were forced out of town as cap casualties.

Amid all the roster turnover, that group of players have managed to keep Chicago in the postseason mix, but have failed to get past the first round of the playoffs in each of the past two seasons. And this year, without Hossa included in their arsenal of weapons, the Blackhawks will be hard-pressed to diverge from the recent string of disappointing results.

One month in, Chicago's veteran nucleus looks like it may not be enough to overcome the remainder of the Blackhawks' flawed roster. That's not a slight on their individual contributions; more so that this is a team that's been able to mask its mistakes for a while now, and this season, they're starting to show.

Goaltending

The area Chiacago looks best happens to be between the pipes, as starter Corey Crawford has kept his team alive through his 10 appearances. In those contests, Crawford has mustered a .935 save percentage with a goals against average of 2.12.

If there's one thing that can drag a team out of a slump, it's good goaltending, and if it weren't for Crawford so far, things could be much worse for the Blackhawks than their 5-5-2 record suggests.

Defense

The blue line, however, is a different story. The Blackhawks traded defensive stalwart Niklas Hjalmarsson over the offseason, and his steadying presence has been sorely missed.

The defensive corps as a whole has been getting torched this season, surrendering 34.5 shots per game. Keith, of course, has been relied upon to log his usual 25 minutes per night, but he's 34 now, so how much longer can he do it himself?

Seabrook's possession numbers have seen a steep decline over recent years, and increased usage isn't the solution to that. Elsewhere, aside from Keith, the only Blackhawks defenseman to put up a positive shot differential at five-on-five is rookie Jan Rutta. If this continues over 82 games, it's going to be a major problem.

Forwards

Much like Keith on the blue line, Chicago's attack hasn't been spread evenly. Kane, who lost triggerman Artemi Panarin, has proven he can produce points with pretty much anyone, and the return of Brandon Saad has had a positive impact on Toews.

But, the Blackhawks are 25th in expected goals scored at even strength, and have a powerplay that's operating at an uncharacteristic 12.7 percent clip.

The reliance on its three best offensive players has posed problems early for Chicago, particularly since 15 its 38 goals came in the first two games of the season.

Unlike years before, the Blackhawks' powerful core isn't supported by the depth required to compete for a Stanley Cup. In fact, at this point, it barely looks as though it's enough to consistently succeed in the regular season.

But that's what Father Time does: he catches up to everybody.

(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)

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A jump to the top of the NHL's scoring list has led Tampa Bay Lightning forwards Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov to be honored as stars for the month of October, with third-ranked Jaden Schwartz of the St. Louis Blues rounding out the trio.

It's the first time two Lightning players have concurrently been stars of the month, according to Bryan Burns of tampabaylightning.com.

Here's a look at the numbers posted by each over the first few weeks of the season:

Not coincidentally, the Lightning and Blues sit atop the NHL standings with 21 points apiece thanks to matching 10-2-1 records.

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New Jersey Devils forward Brian Boyle will make his season debut Wednesday night versus the Vancouver Canucks, head coach John Hynes announced.

Boyle was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia, a form of bone marrow cancer treatable with medication, in September, and begun to participate in practices with his new club Oct. 22.

The 32-year-old signed a two-year contract with the Devils this past offseason.

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The Arizona Coyotes' dreadful October was capped by a lone bright spot, as freshman sensation Clayton Keller was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month.

Keller recorded nine goals and six assists for the Coyotes, who rank dead last in the NHL by a wide margin with a putrid record of 1-11-1.

The 19-year-old leads all rookies with 49 shots on goal, and tallied at least one point in 10 of Arizona's 13 contests.

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The Arizona Coyotes' dreadful October was capped by a lone bright spot, as freshman sensation Clayton Keller was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month.

Keller recorded nine goals and six assists for the Coyotes, who rank dead last in the NHL by a wide margin with a putrid record of 1-11-1.

The 19-year-old leads all rookies with 49 shots on goal, and tallied at least one point in 10 of Arizona's 13 contests.

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Jarome Iginla won't crack Canada's Olympic roster solely on merit.

If the 40-year-old wants to play at the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea, he'll need to hit the ice sooner rather than later, according to Hockey Canada president Tom Renney.

"As good a player as Jarome has been, as good a man as he is, if he’s not playing, it’s hard to give yourself opportunity for a fair evaluation, quite honestly, of what he might be able to do in the Olympic Games," Renney said Wednesday, per Luke Fox of Sportsnet.

Related: Team Canada 2018 Olympic hockey jerseys unveiled

Iginla went unsigned as an unrestricted free agent during the offseason and is believed to have recently undergone a procedure on his hip.

Canada is set to play at a pre-tournament later this month in Finland, with another set for mid-December in Russia. If Iginla does want to play, one would assume he'd need to make that trip.

Iginla appeared in 80 games last season with Colorado and Los Angeles, recording 14 goals and 13 assists. He last played for Canada at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

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