CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Brian Sutter hopes his advice in math class leads his team to final exams.
Steve Sullivan and Scott Nichol scored 31 seconds apart in the first period, leading the Chicago Blackhawks to a 3-1 victory over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and an early tie for first place in the Central Division.
First place this early in the season normally wouldn't mean anything, but the Blackhawks got off to a 1-4-0 start, during which they were outscored, 18-6. They also have made the playoffs just once since 1997.
"First place is first place," Sutter said. "I told the guys all the way back to the beginning of math class ... two points is two points. It doesn't matter if it's in October or November, or if it's February or March."
Sutter, in his third season as Blackhawks coach, refers to training camp as math class. Since then, his team has done its homework, catching St. Louis atop the Central.
"We were 1-4 here a couple of weeks ago," he said. "It takes some character to stand up and do what we've done since then."
Sullivan opened the scoring on the power play with 6:14 left in the first, putting a slap shot from the point through a screen and past goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere for his fourth goal of the season.
Nichol added his first as a Blackhawk on a defensive breakdown. He picked up a loose puck at the top of the left faceoff circle and snapped it by Giguere from just above the hashmark.
It was the 14th goal in just over two NHL seasons for Nichol, a checking center assigned to the opponent's top scoring line. He did his best to shut down Anaheim's top centers - Sergei Fedorov and Steve Rucchin.
"I think our line has played real well, shutting down the top line on the other team," Nichol said. "But when you play that many minutes, it's nice to get rewarded by getting a point here or a point there."
Kyle Calder added a power-play goal in the third period for the Blackhawks, who enjoyed a four-point weekend. They posted a 3-2 victory in St. Louis on Saturday night.
Rookie Michael Leighton made 29 saves for his first win of the season. Jocelyn Thibault's backup was 0-2-1 in his first four appearances.
"The team is playing well for me, and in the last 10 games, our team has been unbelievable, and so when I'm in there, if I just keep making saves that I'm supposed to make, I think we'll keep winning," Leighton said.
Chicago, which has lost just one of its last eight games (4-1-3), was 0-4-1 in the previous five meetings with Anaheim.
Vaclav Prospal snapped Leighton's shutout bid with 13:58 remaining, but the Mighty Ducks still fell to 2-2-0 on a six-game road trip. Their biggest problem was that they gave Chicago six straight power plays.
"It absolutely affects you," Ducks coach Mike Babcock said. "When we're trailing, we can't be killing, we need to be on the attack. I thought the game had a lot of hold-up and obstructions, but that's life."
"We definitely shot ourselves in the foot tonight," Rucchin added. "All those penalties, you know, that definitely didn't help."
