Blackhawks 5, Hurricanes 2: Captain Jonathan Toews registered his third two-goal performance of the season and added an assist as host Chicago cruised to its third win in four games.

Brandon Saad, Marcus Kruger and Marian Hossa also scored for the Blackhawks, who climbed within four points of second-place St. Louis in the Central Division. Defenseman Michal Rozsival notched a pair of assists and Corey Crawford finished with 27 saves as Chicago went without a power-play opportunity.

Blue-liner John-Michael Liles and Alexander Semin tallied for the Hurricanes, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. Cam Ward allowed four goals on 18 shots over two periods before Anton Khudobin made seven saves in the third.

Toews opened the scoring 8:07 into the contest, taking a pass from Rozsival at the blue line and skating down the middle alone before beating Ward high to the glove side from the slot. The captain doubled the lead while short-handed 44 seconds into the middle period, when he fired the puck between Ward's pads from the left hash marks on a partial breakaway for his fifth goal in five games.

Saad made it 3-0 midway through the session as he beat Ward on his second attempt from the left faceoff circle after his first shot attempt was blocked. Kruger continued the onslaught by burying a rebound in the crease with 4:18 left in the second and Hossa ripped a shot from the top of the slot past Khudobin's glove at 7:55 of the third to secure the victory.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Ward suffered his first career regulation loss to the Blackhawks (3-1-2). ... Chicago debuted two of its newest members in D Kimmo Timonen and C Antoine Vermette. Timonen logged 17:29 of ice time in his season debut after being acquired from Philadelphia while Vermette saw 12:55 of action in his first game since coming over from Arizona. ... The Blackhawks made one deal on Monday before the trade deadline, sending RW Ben Smith and a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2017 draft to San Jose for C Andrew Desjardins. The 28-year-old Desjardins recorded five goals and three assists in 56 games with the Sharks this season.