CHICAGO — Marty Turco showed why the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks signed him.

The 35-year-old former Dallas Stars goalie made 33 saves, including several key late stops, in Chicago’s 3-1 victory over Los Angeles on Wednesday night.

He also made an impression on the Kings.

“Bottom line is, we couldn’t find a way to get it by Turco,” Los Angeles coach Terry Murray said. “We were getting pucks in, getting shots to the net. We were close. And one of their premier guys, at a critical time, scored the third goal.”

Patrick Sharp was that guy, taking the pressure off Turco when he beat Jonathan Bernier for the insurance goal with 2:05 remaining.

“There were some huge blocks out there, some great slide plays around my net to help me out,” Turco said. “There were certainly some plays that were super close, a couple of bang-bang plays that got to me or missed wide.”

Turco, signed to a one-year contract to replace Antti Niemi in the offseason, allowed only Justin Williams’ first-period goal. The Kings outshot the Blackhawks 15-8 in the third period, pressuring Chicago until Sharp scored his NHL-leading ninth goal of the season.

Turco got a piece of Alexei Ponikarovsky’s shot with 6:20 to play, then heard it clink off a goalpost.

“When we did force them, get them running around a little bit, we got the puck up to the top and they blocked a lot of shots,” Williams said. “They really fronted a lot of pucks, and stopped us from sustaining a lot of pressure because of that.”

Also on Wednesday:

Capitals 3

Hurricanes 0

RALEIGH, N.C. — Michal Neuvirth stopped 29 shots for his first NHL shutout, and Washington beat Carolina to spoil the Hurricanes’ first game on home ice. Nicklas Backstrom scored two goals, including an empty-netter, and Matt Hendricks also scored for the Capitals.

Thrashers 6

Rangers 4

NEW YORK — Niclas Bergfors had a goal and an assist and Atlanta scored twice early in the third period and held on end an 0-2-1 skid and snap New York’s winning streak at three games. Bergfors gave Atlanta a 3-2 lead in the second period and assisted on Dustin Byfuglien’s power-play goal in the third that stretched the Thrashers’ edge to three goals. Bryan Little, Evander Kane, Eric Boulton and Andrew Ladd also scored.

Lightning 5

Penguins 3

TAMPA, Fla. — Martin St. Louis blew past Pittsburgh defenseman Ben Lovejoy and lifted a shot over goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to put Tampa Bay up 4-3 with 13:20 to play, then made it a two-goal game with Fleury on the bench for an extra skater with 30.8 seconds remaining. Dana Tyrell, Teddy Purcell and Vincent Lecavalier also scored for the Lightning.

Canadiens 5

Islanders 3

MONTREAL — Tomas Plekanec and Jeff Halpern each had a goal and an assist, and Carey Price made 18 saves to help Montreal extend its winning streak to three. Mathieu Darche, Travis Moen and Andrei Kostitsyn also scored for the Canadiens. James Wisniewski had a goal two assists for New York, and Doug Weight and John Tavares also scored for New York.

Sharks 5

Devils 2

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Joe Thornton had his fourth career hat trick and added two assists in San Jose’s victory over slumping New Jersey. Linemates Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley each had a goal and three assists, giving the trio 13 points in the game. Antero Nittymaki made 37 saves to improve to 3-0-1.