Chicago's Jonathan Toews scored the overtime winner that gave the Blackhawks a 3-2 victory at St Louis on Friday, taking a 3-2 lead in their NHL first-round play-off series, while Anaheim also moved to the brink of progression in their best-of-seven clash. The Ducks won 6-2 at home against Dallas, revelling back on home ice after successive defeats away to the Stars.  In the day's other game Philadelphia edged the New York Rangers 2-1 to square their series at 2-2.Chicago lost the opening two games of the series against St Louis and the defending Stanley Cup champions looked to be on the way to early elimination from the postseason, but Friday's victory was their third in a row and now the Blackhawks can wrap up the series if they win at home on Sunday.  Three of the first four games of the series went to overtime and it was no surprise when the teams again could not be separated in regulation time.  Toews settled it as he got behind the Blues defence on a breakaway, made a couple of fakes before slipping the puck past goaltender Ryan Miller. Marian Hossa and Ben Smith also scored for Chicago while TJ Oshie and Alex Pietrangelo netted for the Blues.Anaheim had a more comfortable victory, cruising past Dallas.  Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and two assists in his return from injury, and Anaheim set a franchise play-off record with four power-play goals.  Corey Perry also had a goal and two assists, while Nick Bonino, Mathieu Perreault, Jakob Silfverberg and Rickard Rakell also netted for the Western Conference top seeds.  The Ducks scored their first five goals from just 21 shots, prematurely ending the night for Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen.  Jamie Benn and Shawn Horcoff scored for the Stars, who failed to score on seven power-play chances. The Philadelphia goalie Steve Mason stopped 37 shots in his first start of the series, helping the Flyers preserve a series-squaring 2-1 win over the Rangers.  Ray Emery started the first three games for Mason, who was out with an upper-body injury. Matt Read and Jakub Voracek scored while Dominic Moore scored for the Rangers.
Blackhawks take 3-2 play-off lead over Blues, while Ducks defeat Dallas and Philadelphia square series with New York