ST. LOUIS: Dallas and St. Louis both won in the NHL on Tuesday to keep pace with each other for the Western Conference lead as the regular season winds down.

Radek Faksa and Jason Spezza scored 46 seconds apart in the second period as Dallas beat Nashville 5-2, while Brian Elliott made 20 saves and Vladimir Tarasenko scored his 36th goal to power St. Louis to a 3-1 win over Colorado.

Both teams have 101 points with five games to play.

Jamie Benn scored two goals and Kari Lehtonen made 27 saves for Dallas, which won for the fifth time in six games.

David Backes and Troy Brouwer also scored for the Blues, who got their fifth straight victory.

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

Jared Spurgeon, Erik Haula and Nino Niederreiter scored in the third period as Minnesota stretched its season-long winning streak to six straight games with a 4-1 victory over Chicago.

Marian Hossa had the goal for Chicago, the 499th of his career.

In Montreal, Max Pacioretty’s second goal of the night lifted the Canadiens to a 4-3 victory over Detroit.

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 Red Wings remained just out of the second Eastern Conference wild card playoff spot and one point behind Boston for third in the Atlantic Division.

Logan Couture scored three goals for his first career hat trick as San Jose handed Vancouver its ninth straight loss, 4-1.

Joe Pavelski added a goal and an assist for San Jose, which clinched a playoff spot a night earlier with 5-2 home victory over the Kings.

The Sharks, who host the Canucks on Thursday, are third in the Pacific Division, two points back of Anaheim and three behind Los Angeles.

Reid Boucher scored a tiebreaking power-play goal early in the third period and Keith Kinkaid made 39 saves as New Jersey kept its faint playoff hopes alive with a 2-1 win over Boston.

Boucher also set up a power-play goal by Travis Zajac, handing the Bruins their sixth loss in seven games.

In Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel beat Chad Johnson in a shootout as the Penguins beat Buffalo 5-4 and inched closer to a 10th straight playoff berth.

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.

Kyle Okposo scored the only goal of the shootout as the Islanders rallied for a 2-1 win over Carolina.

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.

Nazem Kadri scored two of his three goals during second-period power plays, leading Toronto to a 5-2 road victory over Florida.