DALLAS (AP) — Radek Faksa and Jason Spezza scored 46 seconds apart in the second period, and the Dallas Stars beat the Nashville Predators 5-2 on Tuesday night.

Dallas won for the fifth time in six games to keep pace with St. Louis for the Western Conference lead. Each team has 101 points with five games to play.

Jamie Benn scored two goals for Dallas, and Kari Lehtonen made 27 saves. Patrick Sharp and Benn scored into an empty net during the final two minutes.

Ryan Ellis and Viktor Arvidsson scored for the Predators, and Pekka Rinne had 20 saves.

Blues 3, Avalanche 1

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Brian Elliott made 20 saves and Vladimir Tarasenko scored his 36th goal to power St. Louis to its fifth straight victory.

David Backes and Troy Brouwer also scored for the Blues, who are tied with Dallas atop the Central Division.

Colorado has lost three of four and trails Minnesota by five points in the battle for the last wild card in the Western Conference. Both teams have five games left.

Elliott and Jake Allen had combined for four consecutive shutouts for St. Louis coming into the night.

Colorado center Mikhail Grigorenko ended the run by scoring late in the first period, snapping the franchise record scoreless string at over 258 minutes.

Wild 4, Blackhawks 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Jared Spurgeon, Erik Haula and Nino Niederreiter scored in the third period, and Minnesota stretched its season-long winning streak to six straight games.

Marian Hossa had the goal for Chicago, the 499th of his career. The Blackhawks played without their two top defensemen, because of an illness for Brent Seabrook and then an ugly first-period match penalty on Duncan Keith for swinging his stick at Charlie Coyle, a potentially costly mistake that could draw a multi-game suspension from the NHL.

Habs 4, Red Wings 3

MONTREAL (AP) — Max

Pacioretty’s second goal of the night lifted the Canadiens to the victory.

Paul Byron and Sven Andrighetto also scored for Montreal, which blew a two-goal lead and trailed 3-2 heading into the final period. Mike Condon had 39 saves.

The Canadiens (35-36-6) played the spoiler, with the Red Wings (38-28-11) remaining just out of the second Eastern Conference wild card and one point back of Boston for third in the Atlantic Division.

Gustav Nyquist, Anthony Mantha and Mike Green scored in the second for Detroit, which outshot Montreal 42-27.

Sharks 4, Canucks 1

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Logan Couture scored three goals for his first career hat trick, and San Jose handed Vancouver its ninth straight loss.

Joe Pavelski added a goal and an assist for San Jose (43-28-6), which clinched a playoff spot a night earlier with 5-2 home victory over the Kings. James Reimer made 23 saves and Brent Burns had two assists.

Penguins 5, Sabres 4

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel beat Chad Johnson in a shootout, and Pittsburgh inched closer to a 10th straight playoff berth.

Ben Lovejoy, Conor Sheary, Tom Kuhnhackl and Nick Bonino scored during a furious second-period as the Penguins climbed out of an early three-goal deficit. Rookie Matt Murray overcame a shaky start to finish with 26 saves, including a breakaway stop on Sabres rookie Jake Eichel in overtime.

Crosby assisted on Sheary’s goal to give him an NHL-best 20 points this month. The Penguins remained three points clear of the Islanders for third in the crowded Metropolitan Division.

Islanders 2, Hurricanes 1 (SO)

NEW YORK (AP) — Kyle Okposo scored the only goal of the shootout and the Islanders rallied for the win.

Derek Ryan put the Hurricanes ahead late in the second period, but hit the post on his shootout attempt in Carolina’s NHL-high 16th overtime loss. The Hurricanes have points in four straight games (2-0-2).

Maple Leafs 5, Panthers 2

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Nazem Kadri scored two of his three goals during second period power plays, leading the Maple Leafs to the road victory.

Michael Grabner and Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau also scored for Toronto.