CHICAGO: Chicago goalie Cristobal Huet stopped 26 shots to help the Blackhawks to 5-1 over the New Jersey Devils in a clash of two NHL divisional leaders on Thursday.

Jonathan Toews had a goal and an assist, while Troy Brouwer, Ben Eager, Andrew Ladd and John Madden also scored for Chicago, which maintained a six-point buffer atop the Central Division.

Huet came within 93 seconds of a shutout, with Jamie Langenbrunner scoring a late consolation for New Jersey.

The Devils remain in top place in the Eastern Conference.

Sharks 3, Coyotes 2, SO: In Glendale, Arizona, San Jose notched its seventh straight win and remained outright leader in the Western Conference with a shootout victory over Phoenix.

Ryan Clowe scored the lone shootout goal for the Sharks, which got goals in regulation from Dan Boyle — his 100th NHL goal — and Kent Huskins.

Phoenix had its franchise-record 10-game winning streak snapped despite goals from Scottie Upshall and Taylor Pyatt.

A win would have moved the Coyotes within two points of the Sharks in the Pacific Division, but the gap was opened to five.

Red Wings 4, Avalanche 2: In Detroit, Ville Leino put Detroit ahead to stay with four minutes left in a narrow win over Colorado.

Darren Helm scored two short-handed goals and Pavel Datsyuk also scored for Detroit.

Brandon Yip netted both Colorado goals.

Kings 5, Wild 2: In St. Paul, Minnesota, Los Angeles snapped a four-game losing skid by beating Minnesota.

Alexander Frolov scored twice and Michal Handzus added a goal and an assist. Brad Richardson and Ryan Smyth also scored for the Kings.

Andrew Brunette and Owen Nolan netted for the Wild.

Predators 2, Blue Jackets 1, OT: In Columbus, Ohio, David Legwand scored 28 seconds into overtime to give Nashville victory over Columbus.

Joel Ward, who also assisted on Andreas Thuresson’s tying goal in the third period, stole the puck and tapped a pass backward to Legwand in the low slot for his ninth of the season.

The Predators are 22-2-1 against the Blue Jackets over the past four years.

Columbus’ goal came from Raffi Torres in the first period.

Canucks 4, Blues 3, OT: In St. Louis, Christian Ehrhoff scored a power-play goal 2:24 into overtime, and Vancouver rallied from three goals down to beat St. Louis.

Daniel and Henrik Sedin each had a goal and an assist, and Mikael Samuelsson also scored for the Canucks.

St. Louis’ Andy McDonald had a goal and an assist.

Flames 2, Oilers 1: In Calgary, Alberta, Curtis Glencross tipped in a point shot by Mark Giordano during a third-period power play to lead Calgary over Edmonton.

Craig Conroy also scored for the Flames, who have won three straight after a poor start to December.

Shawn Horcoff scored the lone goal for the Oilers.

Stars 5, Ducks 3: In Dallas, Loui Eriksson scored three goals for his second career hat trick as Dallas downed Anahaim for rare consecutive wins.

Eriksson had a chance for a fourth goal with 8 minutes left, but his shot on a short-handed breakaway glanced off a post.

Brad Richards had a power-play goal and two assists, and Stephane Robidas added a goal for the Stars who notched successive wins for the first time in five weeks.

For the Ducks, Saku Koivu scored twice, and Mike Brown added a goal.

Senators 3, Islanders 2, SO: In Ottawa, Ryan Shannon scored the decisive shootout goal to lift Ottawa over New York.

Shannon delivered Ottawa’s third straight shootout tally after Alex Kovalev and Mike Fisher also beat Dwayne Roloson with the Senators’ first two shots.

Senators goalie Pascal Leclaire stopped John Tavares on the Islanders’ final attempt after Frans Nielsen and Rob Schremp had scored.

Chris Kelly and Peter Regin got second-period goals for Ottawa.

Canadiens 5, Panthers 4: In Sunrise, Florida, Marc-Andre Bergeron and Benoit Pouliot scored early in the third period to lift Montreal over Florida.

The Canadiens, who haven’t played at home since Dec. 17, won six of seven on their long road trip.

Bergeron and Pouliot’s goals put Montreal up 5-3. Radek Dvorak brought Florida within 5-4 but they could not find an equalizer.

Rangers 2, Hurricanes 1: In Raleigh, North Carolina, Brandon Dubinsky’s goal at 11:49 of the third off an assist from Marian Gaborik gave New York the victory over struggling Carolina.

Gaborik, who has 26 goals this season, is the fourth NHL player to reach 50 points this season. He assisted on both goals. Erik Christensen added a goal and an assist for his first two points of the season.

The Rangers outshot the Hurricanes 35-18. Carolina has won just once in 11 games when tied after two periods.