Toronto: Toronto scored four times in the third period to beat Anaheim 6-2 on Wednesday, pushing the Maple Leafs’ winning streak to six games while ending the streak of the NHL-leading Ducks at eight.

Anaheim’s league lead was cut to two points ahead of Chicago, who won a tight game against Minnesota. Chicago kept their noses in front in the tightly contested Central Division, with St Louis and Nashville keeping up the pressure by beating Los Angeles and Boston respectively.

Toronto’s four third-period goals came via two from Phil Kessel and one each from David Booth — his first of the season — and Nazem Kadri. Tyler Bozak and Joffrey Lupul had scored earlier for the Maple Leafs.

Sami Vatanen and Ryan Kesler netted for the Ducks, who suffered their first loss in December.

St Louis also scored four third-period goals to overwhelm Los Angeles 5-2.

Vladimir Tarasenko had a hat-trick for the Blues to push his season goal total to 20.

St. Louis had lost seven of their previous eight encounters with the Kings, but the late surge pushed the Blues to a fifth-straight win.

Chicago’s Patrick Kane scored a tiebreaking power-play goal with 3:28 left as the Blackhawks beat Minnesota 5-3.

Chicago’s Jonathan Toews had a goal and two assists. Marian Hossa and Brent Seabrook also scored, and Ben Smith added an empty-net goal for the surging Blackhawks, who have won 13 of 15.

Thomas Vanek scored a first-period goal for the Wild, and tallies from Nino Niederreiter and Marco Scandella had tied the game at 3-3.

Nashville’s Derek Roy scored the only goal of the shoot-out to give the Predators a 3-2 victory over Boston.

Mike Fisher and Mike Ribeiro had goals in regulation for Nashville, and in the tiebreaker Roy almost lost the puck on his approach but beat the goalie with a backhand.

Milan Lucic and Reilly Smith scored for the Bruins, who have lost six of seven.

Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos and Tyler Johnson scored second-period goals to lead the Lightning over Philadelphia 3-1.

Valtteri Filppula added an empty-net goal for the Lightning.

Wayne Simmonds scored his sixth goal in as many games for Philadelphia, who had not lost in regulation in the previous five games but came up against a familiar stumbling block in Tampa Bay, which has beaten the Flyers six straight times.

Columbus beat Detroit 1-0 after a shoot-out, extending its winning streak to seven-straight games.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 30 shots through overtime and two more in a shoot-out.

Boone Jenner and Ryan Johansen both scored in the tiebreaker for Columbus.

Florida’s Nick Bjugstad scored the winning goal in the longest shoot-out in NHL history — 20 rounds — to lift the Panthers over Washington 2-1.

New York’s Rick Nash scored two goals to reach 20 for the season, helping the Rangers beat Calgary 5-2.

Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele scored twice and added an assist as the Jets beat Buffalo 5-1, ending the Sabres’ four-game streak.

Montreal’s Alex Galchenyuk scored his first NHL hat trick as the Canadiens beat Carolina 4-1.

Arizona ended a team-record run of nine successive home defeats by beating lowly Edmonton 2-1 thanks to Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s goal with 0.3 seconds left in overtime.