For all the star power with the Washington Capitals and Chicago Blackhawks, it was a pretty connection between fourth-line forwards that proved to be the difference.

Richard Panik kicked the puck from behind the net to a streaking Dennis Rasmussen for the rookie’s fourth goal at 12:47 of the third, and the new-look Blackhawks topped the NHL-leading Capitals, 3-2, on Sunday in Chicago.

‘‘I thought it was a beautiful pass,’’ Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said with a grin, ‘‘one of best passes I’ve seen all year.’’

Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane also scored as the Blackhawks (39-20-5) won for only the third time in their last eight games. Corey Crawford made 28 saves, helping Chicago leapfrog Dallas for the top spot in the Western Conference with 83 points.

The Blackhawks got a boost from two of their newest players acquired in a flurry of moves last week. Andrew Ladd got an assist in his return to Chicago after he was reacquired in a trade with Winnipeg on Thursday night, and Tomas Fleischmann had a solid debut after he came over in a trade with Montreal on Friday.

‘‘It was nice to be around familiar faces from the guys who were around when I was here before,’’ Ladd said. ‘‘There are a lot of things different — they’ve changed this whole room around — and a lot of new faces, but just fun to be back.’’

Marcus Johansson and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored for Washington (45-12-4), which had won five of six. Braden Holtby made 20 saves while dropping to 39-7-3 on the year.

‘‘You can definitely see why their top players are their top players,’’ Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. ‘‘I thought today had a little bit of a playoff feel. It’s just another good experience for us.’’

The nationally televised second meeting of the season between two of the NHL’s top teams — Washington beat Chicago 4-1 way back on Oct. 15 — was a highly entertaining affair played at a breakneck pace for much of the day in front of a season-high crowd of 22,218 at the United Center.

‘‘That was a heck of a hockey game today, I thought,’’ Washington defenseman Matt Niskanen said. ‘‘There was a lot of high pace, good scoring chances, good goaltending, a lot of good stuff out there. Unfortunately we were on the short end of it, but it was a good game, good team.’’

The score was tied at 1 in the second period before Teuvo Teravainen set up Toews’ 22nd goal with a slick pass over the middle to the captain. Ladd helped get the puck to an open Teravainen off a scramble in front.

Ladd previously played for Chicago for two-plus seasons, helping the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 2010. He got a loud ovation when he was introduced with the starting lineup before the game.

Rasmussen’s first goal since Dec. 19, stopping a 29-game drought, made it 3-1. Panik used his right foot to slide it to Rasmussen in front.

‘‘It was a really nice pass,’’ Rasmussen said. ‘‘I actually saw him have the puck under his skate and kinda realized he’s gonna make that play. I’ve seen it done in practice. I was ready for it.’’

Wild 3, Panthers 1 — Erik Haula scored midway through the third period and Minnesota edged Florida to end a nine-game winless streak (0-6-3) at the Xcel Energy Center.

Sharks 4, Canucks 1 — Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl scored 2:28 apart in the third period, and visiting San Jose prevented Vancouver from winning three straight games for the first time this season.

Charlie Coyle and Jason Pominville also scored for Minnesota and Devan Dubnyk stopped 17 shots as the Wild moved two points behind Colorado for the second Western Conference wild-card playoff spot. Aaron Ekblad scored for Florida, which lost in regulation for the first time in six games.

Roberto Luongo finished with 21 saves. He replaced starter Al Montoya early in the game after Montoya suffered an upper-body injury during a collision with Minnesota’s Marco Scandella and did not return.

Ducks 4, Kings 2 — Corey Perry had a hat trick, including the tiebreaking goal 1:27 into the third period, lifting host Anaheim over Los Angeles.

Blues 5, Hurricanes 2 — David Backes and Kyle Brodziak scored second-period goals to lead visiting St. Louis over Carolina.

Oilers 3, Islanders 1 — Anton Lander, Leon Draisaitl, and Brandon Davidson scored goals 6:45 apart midway through the third period to boost host Edmonton.