VANCOUVER, British Columbia—Bryan Bickell scored his first goal of the season 1:12 into the third period, and Antii Niemi made 30 saves to lead the Blackhawks to a 1-0 victory against the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night.After Niemi made several great saves to keep it scoreless through two periods, defenseman Brian Campbell helped set up the only goal early in the third, skating in from the point, eluding a check on the boards, and cutting into the crease. He lost the puck in a crowd in front but it squirted right to Bickell at the far side for a tap-in goal behind sprawled goalie Roberto Luongo.It was Bickell’s first goal since April 2007. He was playing only his sixth game of a season spent mostly in the minor leagues, but has spent the past four games on the Blackhawks’ top line with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.Niemi did the rest, making a couple more brilliant stops as the Blackhawks won their seventh consecutive game despite playing the night before in Edmonton.He got a glove on Henrik Sedin’s wide-open shot from the slot, robbed Alex Burrows with his left pad, and got a break when Alex Edler hit the post with 6:19 left.The Canucks welcomed top goal-scorer Daniel Sedin back to the top line after missing more than six weeks and 18 games with a broken foot. But it wasn’t enough to solve Niemi, who got a rare start after watching Cristobal Huet play his sixth straight during Saturday night’s 5-2 win in Edmonton.Niemi was 3-1-1 with a shutout in five appearances this season, but the lone regulation loss was against the Canucks and the 26-year-old Finn hadn’t played in 2½ weeks. Despite that, there wasn’t any rust in his game.Niemi also got a bit of a break when Ryan Kesler’s shot hit the butt end of his stick along the goal line on a net drive with 3:18 left in the first period. But there was nothing lucky about the right pad he shot out to take an empty net and sure goal away from Kesler atop the crease on a power play a few minutes later.Niemi was even better late in the second period, stuffing Daniel Sedin in tight, Steve Bernier on a breakaway and robbing Mason Raymond in the final minute.Not to be outdone, Luongo, who made 16 saves, got a piece of Dustin Byfuglien’s high blast on a 2-on-1 midway through the second period, and got his shoulder on Patrick Kane’s backhand on a partial break 2 minutes later.Kane failed to score for the first time in six games, and was held without a point for the first time in 10, ending his streak at 13 points. But he started the play that led to the only goal with Bickell, who looked woozy when the left Saturday’s game after the first period, parking in the crease for a tap in.

ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands — Tyler Smith made two free throws with 13.7 seconds left, and No. 10 Tennessee held off DePaul 57-53 in the second round of the Paradise Jam on Sunday.Smith finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Vols (4-0), who will play No. 7 Purdue or Saint Joseph’s for the tournament title on Monday night. DePaul (2-1) closed to 55-53 on Mac Koshwal’s layup with 44.5 seconds left, but the Vols ran off nearly 30 seconds before Jeremiah Kelly finally fouled Smith. He made both ends of the 1-and-1, and Will Walker missed a 3-point attempt in the closing seconds.Wayne Chism added 13 points and eight rebounds for Tennessee, which out-rebounded DePaul 37-25 but turned the ball over 15 times to keep the game close.Koshwal and Walker each had 14 points for DePaul. Eric Wallace added 10.

EVANSTON—Juice Thompson, the smallest player on the court, was a major force for a Northwestern team learning to survive without its star.Thompson scored 13 of his career-high 31 points in the final 5:04 Sunday as Northwestern finished with a 16-1 run and rallied to defeat Tennessee State 69-62.Northwestern (2-1) is without Kevin Coble, a second-team All-Big Ten forward last year who will miss this season with a foot injury. Another senior leader, reserve forward Jeff Ryan, also is done for the season.Both players were hurt in the last two weeks. That put instant pressure on Thompson, a junior who averaged only 9.9 points last season.Thompson’s previous career high was 24 points.

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EDMONTON—Jonathan Toews scored two goals and added an assist as the Blackhawks won their sixth game in a row, knocking off the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Saturday.Patrick Kane, Kris Versteeg and John Madden also scored for the Blackhawks (14-5-2), who built on a 7-1 win over Calgary for their second consecutive road win at the start of a six-game trip.Sheldon Souray and Dustin Penner had goals for the Oilers (9-11-3), who have lost five of six and eight of 10.

DENVER—Carmelo Anthony scored 30 points and Chauncey Billups had 21, leading the Denver Nuggets to a 112-93 victory over the Bulls on Saturday night.It was the 15th straight regular-season home win for the Nuggets, including all five this season as Denver bounced back from Friday night’s loss in Los Angeles to the Clippers.Anthony, the NBA’s leading scorer, reached 30 points for the ninth time in his first 13 games.Derrick Rose scored 28 points, Luol Deng had 22 and Joakim Noah 10 for the Bulls, who lost for the 10th time in their last 11 games in Denver.Reserve J.R. Smith added 19 points for the Nuggets, who swept their two-game season series with the Bulls.They won the first meeting earlier this month when officials waved off a potential game-winning basket at the buzzer by Brad Miller, ruling it was an instant too late.The Nuggets, behind by as many as 14 points in the first half, came back to tie it at 61 when Billups hit a 3-pointer with 6:09 left in the third quarter. They moved in front for first time since the game’s opening moments during their ensuing possession, when Kenyon Martin hit a jump hook over the 7-foot Noah.The Bulls regained the lead 71-70 on Rose’s running jumper, but Anthony made a jumper and Smith connected on a 3-pointer to give the Nuggets a four-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.Denver took control from there, going on an 18-6 run to start the final period that featured a 3-pointer by Smith and a fast-break layup by rookie Ty Lawson off a steal.Trailing 27-14 after a sluggish first quarter, the Nuggets cut in to the Bulls’ advantage in the last 4:34 of the second quarter, when they outscored the Bulls 17-7 to pull to 52-49 at halftime.Billups was at the center of the burst, feeding Nene inside for a dunk and going to the basket himself for 13 of his 14 second-quarter points.

EVANSTON—Mike Kafka hit Andrew Brewer with two first-half touchdown passes and Brian Peters and Jordan Mabin made key defensive plays late as Northwestern beat No. 17 Wisconsin 33-31 on Saturday. Northwestern (8-4, 5-3 Big Ten) improved its bowl positioning with its third straight victory. Fans swarmed Ryan Field after the victory, which wasn’t clinched until Mabin intercepted Scott Tolzien with 42 seconds to go.Stefan Demos kicked four field goals for the Wildcats.NU led 27-14 at the half behind Kafka, who finished with 326 yards, and Brewer, a former quarterback.But Wisconsin’s David Gilreath returned a punt 68 yards for a third-quarter TD to get the Badgers (8-3, 5-3) back in the game.Tolzien found Garrett Graham wide open in the back of the end zone for a 13-yard pass with 10:45 to go, pulling the Badgers within 33-31 and setting the stage for a wild finish.

SOUTH BEND—Connecticut finally won one for their slain teammate, beating Notre Dame on senior day and handing Fighting Irish coach Charlie Weis another bitter defeat.Andre Dixon scored on a 4-yard touchdown run in the second overtime to give the Huskies a 33-30 victory, their first win since cornerback Jasper Howard was stabbed to death.The loss was the third straight for Notre Dame (6-5) and will add to the mounting calls for Weis to be fired. The Irish led 14-0 early in the second quarter but didn’t score another touchdown until the first overtime.The Huskies (5-5) had lost three straight painfully close games since Howard was killed. This time they made the plays at the end to win in dramatic fashion.Jordan Todman ran for 130 yards on 26 carries, including a 43-yard TD run for UConn. He also added a 96-yard kickoff return. Dixon rushed for 114 yards on 20 carries.

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