>>Blackhawks Blast Stars

Patrick Kane had two goals and an assist, and the Blackhawks beat the Dallas Stars 5-2 on Thursday night for their first win streak in two months.

Alex DeBrincat had a goal and two assists for Chicago, and defenseman Erik Gustafsson scored for the second straight game. Brendan Perlini had an empty-netter, and Cam Ward made 26 saves.

The Blackhawks are 3-1-1 in the last five games after a seven-game losing streak.

Tyler Seguin and Taylor Fedun scored for Dallas, which lost for the fifth time in six games. Ben Bishop had 24 stops.

Chicago has been hurt by slow starts all season long, but it jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Dallas and then held off a rally by the Stars.

The Blackhawks complete a two-game trip on Friday at Colorado.

>>Canucks Pound Blues

Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues.

Bo Horvat and Jake Virtanen each had a goal and an assist for Vancouver (17-17-4), which has won three of four. Adam Gaudette, Josh Leivo and Loui Eriksson also scored.

Vladimir Tarasenko put up the lone goal for St. Louis (13-16-4). Jake Allen stopped 24 shots.

The Blues had 15 shots in the first period, but Markstrom stepped up for the Canucks.

Markstrom improved to 6-0 in six December starts. He has a .942 save percentage over that stretch.

The Blues visit Calgary on Saturday.