The Pittsburgh Penguins moved back to the summit of the Atlantic Division with a win over the Boston Bruins.

Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury faced just 17 shots in the face of a below-par outing for the Bruins, who hold onto eighth place in the Eastern Conference despite this defeat.

Tyler Kennedy, Alex Ponikarovsky and Michael Rupp weighed in with the goals for the Penguins, who also climb to second place in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Penguins' rise comes at the expense of divisional rivals the New Jersey Devils, who were defeated 2-1 by the Toronto Maple Leafs after a shootout.

Phil Kessel scored in both regulation and the shootout for the Maple Leafs.

Nikolai Kulemin and John Mitchell also netted in the shootout for Toronto, while David Clarkson was on target for New Jersey.

Eastern Conference leaders the Washington Capitals suffered a 4-3 overtime loss against the Carolina Hurricanes, for whom Ray Whitney scored the winner 4:02 into the added period.

The Chicago Blackhawks moved top of the Western Conference with a 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings thanks to goals from Tomas Kopecky (two) and Troy Brouwer, while nearest rivals the San Jose Sharks lost 3-2 at fellow conference heavyweights the Vancouver Canucks.

Ryan Kesler and Alexander Edler each had a goal and an assist for Vancouver, as the Sharks slumped to a fourth straight loss.

Radim Vrbata forced overtime and then hit the winner in the shootout as the Phoenix Coyotes claimed a franchise-best 44th win of the campaign with a 4-3 outcome against the Florida Panthers.

Jason Pominville scored a hat-trick as the Buffalo Sabres ran out 6-2 winners over the Tampa Bay Lightning, while Paul Kariya scored his 400th NHL goal as the St Louis Blues defeated the New York Rangers 4-3.

Nik Antropov and Colby Armstrong scored two goals apiece as the Atlanta Thrashers defeated the Ottawa Senators 6-3, Scott Hartnell hit the winner as the Philadelphia Flyers downed the Dallas Stars 3-2, and Pekka Rinne made 17 saves as the Nashville Predators crushed the Minnesota Wild 5-0.