DALLAS (AP) — David Perron scored his team-leading 24th goal and the St. Louis Blues chased Dallas goalie Ben Bishop early while extending their Western Conference lead with a dominant 5-1 victory over the Stars on Friday night.
Jake Allen stopped 18 shots in the Blues' third straight win since a 0-3-2 stretch that included an overtime loss at home to the Stars. Colton Parayko had a goal and two assists.
St. Louis is four points ahead of Dallas with 20 games to go in a tight race among the top three teams in the West.
Colorado moved into second in the Central Division, a point ahead of the Stars, with a 1-0 win at Anaheim. Dallas has 21 games remaining, and the Avalanche have 22.
Bishop, a 2019 Vezina Trophy finalist, was pulled after Jaden Schwartz beat him from the right circle for a 4-0 lead just 4:45 into the second period. Bishop made nine stops on 13 shots.
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Patrice Bergeron scored two more goals, and Boston earned its fifth consecutive win.
Bergeron has scored 21 times in 32 games since returning from a lower-body injury on Dec. 9, an injury that sidelined him for seven games.
Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle also scored for Boston (39-11-12), which opened a five-point lead on Tampa Bay atop the NHL's overall standings.
The Bruins, who have won 11 of 12 overall, also made a trade, acquiring forward Ondrej Kase from Anaheim.
Mikael Backlund had two goals and Johnny Gaudreau also scored for Calgary (31-25-6), which is fighting for a wild card in the Western Conference.
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Pavel Francouz made 26 saves in his first NHL shutout, leading Colorado to its fifth straight road win.
J.T. Compher scored in the second period, helping Francouz get the win after he finalized a $4 million, two-year contract extension earlier in the day. It was the 27th career game for the 29-year-old Czech goaltender.
Colorado's victory — its 10th in its last 14 games — and Dallas' loss to St. Louis moved the Avalanche into second place in the Central Division. They have 77 points and trail the Blues by three points.
John Gibson made 28 stops for Anaheim.
RANGERS 5, HURRICANES 2
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Mika Zibanejad had a goal and two assists, powering the Rangers to the victory.
Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome each had a goal and an assist for New York, which won for the eighth time in 11 games. Jesper Fast and Brady Skjei also scored, and Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves.
New York swept the four-game season series. The Rangers have won 31 of their past 37 games with the Hurricanes since February 2011.
Brock McGinn and Sebastian Aho scored for Carolina, which dropped to 5-4 since the All-Star break. Petr Mrazek stopped 31 shots in his third loss of the season to the Rangers.
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Jared Spurgeon scored three goals, sending Minnesota to the road win.
Kevin Fiala and Carson Soucy also scored for the Wild, who have won two straight.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two goals and an assist for the Oilers, who have lost two in a row. Leon Draisaitl also scored.
Spurgeon gave Minnesota its first lead at 4-3 midway through the third period when his backhand tipped in off defender Adam Larsson's stick. Spurgeon earned the natural hat trick late in the game, scoring his 10th goal into an empty net.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Jordan Eberle scored three times, and the Islanders stopped a four-game skid.
It was Eberle's third career hat trick.
Leo Komarov added a late empty-netter for the Islanders. Semyon Varlamov stopped 21 shots.
Anthony Mantha scored for Detroit, which became the first team this season to be eliminated from playoff contention. Jonathan Bernier made 36 saves.
BLACKHAWKS 2, PREDATORS 1, OT
CHICAGO (AP) — Alex DeBrincat scored in the third period and overtime to rally Chicago to the victory.
Corey Crawford had 42 saves for the Blackhawks, who had dropped seven of eight.
DeBrincat skated in alone in overtime, and then snapped off a shot that beat Pekka Rinne high on the glove side for his 16th goal.
DeBrincat tied the game with a power-play goal midway through the third period. His goal came on a deflection and snapped Chicago's 0-for-21 drought with the man advantage.
Mattias Ekholm scored in the second period for Nashville. Rinne blocked 36 shots.
