DALLAS (AP) Dallas’ Jamie Benn had two goals and an assist to lead the Stars to a 6-2 win against Montreal in Saturday’s clash of two NHL divisional leaders.
The Stars stayed six points clear of the keenly contested Central Division, with the four teams below them also involved in key matches.
St. Louis won a tight game against Calgary to stay second, Chicago were led by Patrick Kane to a shootout win at Buffalo to be third, and fourth-placed Minnesota had their advantage over fifth-placed Nashville trimmed after a loss to the Predators. No team in the Central has a losing record.
Dallas’ Benn regained the NHL lead with 22 goals, passing St. Louis’ Vladimir Tarasenko.
Jason Spezza had a goal and two assists, Tyler Seguin and Patrick Sharp each had a goal and an assist and Patrick Eaves added a power-play goal for the Stars.
Daniel Carr scored on the power play for Montreal, and Paul Byron added a short-handed goal.
Nashville’s Mike Ribeiro had a goal and an assist to lead the Predators to a 3-2 victory over Minnesota.
Filip Forsberg and James Neal also scored for Nashville while Zach Parise and Jason Zucker had goals for the Wild.
The result represented a form reversal for both teams, as Nashville had lost its previous three games, and Minnesota had won three in a row.
St. Louis’ Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists, lifting the Blues to a 3-2 win over Calgary.
Colton Parayko and Jori Lehtera also scored for the Blues while Sean Monahan and Mark Giordano netted for the Flames.
Chicago’s Kane made his Buffalo homecoming a winning one by scoring the tying goal in the final minute and then adding the lone shootout goal in leading the Blackhawks to a 3-2 victory.
Kane tied it with 34 seconds left while the Blackhawks enjoyed a 6-on-3 advantage.
Dennis Rasmussen also scored for Chicago.
Ryan O’Reilly and Cody Franson scored for the Sabres, who are 0-7-1 in their past eight games against Chicago.
Arizona bounced back from conceding seven goals in its previous game, and beat the New York Islanders 1-0 with Louis Domingue stopping 25 shots in his first NHL shutout.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored the sole goal for the Coyotes, who found some defensive resolve among a team that had allowed a league worst 4.6 goals per game in December.
The Islanders have managed just two goals across a three-game skid that followed a 10-game winning streak.
Toronto goaltender Jonathan Bernier belatedly notched his first win of the season in his 12th appearance, helping the Maple Leafs rout Los Angeles 5-0.
Colorado extended its winning streak to five games by beating Edmonton 5-1, with goalie Semyon Varlamov making 39 saves.
Anaheim’s Chris Stewart and Ryan Kesler each scored first-period goals and the Ducks held on to edge New Jersey 2-1.
Carolina inflicted a fifth successive loss on struggling Pittsburgh, winning 2-1 on first-period power-play goals from Jordan Staal and John-Michael Liles.
Columbus’ Brandon Dubinsky scored in the sixth shootout round to give the Blue Jackets a 3-2 win against Philadelphia.
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