The Montreal Canadiens secured a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers to increase their winning streak to six games.

Glen Metropolit fired the Canadiens ahead in the first period before Sean Avery levelled 2:02 into the second.

Sergei Kostitsyn broke the tie in Montreal's favour in the third before Tomas Plekanec added an empty-net goal to seal the victory with 35 seconds remaining.

The win moves the Canadiens into sixth place in the East, one point ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers, who suffered defeat in a shootout against the Nashville Predators.

Martin Erat scored the only goal of the shootout to lead the Predators to a 4-3 victory. Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne, and Chris Pronger were on target for the Flyers, while Steve Sullivan, Jerred Smithson and Erat hit the goals for the victors.

Eastern Conference pacesetters the Washington Capitals posted a 7-3 win over the Florida Panthers, with Brooks Laich (two), Nicklas Backstrom, Eric Fehr, Brendan Morrison, Jason Chimera and Alexander Semin with the goals for the winners.

The Boston Bruins' seven-game road trip ended on a high as they defeated the Carolina Panthers 5-2 to maintain their grip on eighth place in the East, while the Atlanta Thrashers defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-3.

Vernon Fiddler and Matthew Lombardi scored in quick order in the the first period and Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 27 shots as the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Tampa Bay Lighting 3-1, while Phil Kessel scored his 26th goal of the season as the Toronto Maple Leafs ran out 4-1 winners over the Ottawa Senators.

Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow each grabbed a brace as the Dallas Stars crushed the Western Conference-leading San Jose Sharks 8-2 to boost their remote play-off hopes.

Brad Richards, Brandon Segal, Toby Petersen and Steve Ott were also on target for the Stars, who are now seven points behind the eighth-placed Detroit Red Wings.

The defeat was the Sharks' second on the bounce and leaves them two points clear of the Chicago Blackhawks at the top of the Western Conference.

Elsewhere in the West, the fifth-placed Colorado Avalanche benefited to the tune of two goals from Peter Mueller in a 5-3 win over the St Louis Blues, while the Minnesota Wild defeated the rock-bottom Edmonton Oilers 4-2 to increase their winning streak to three games.

John Tavares hit a brace and claimed a career-high five points as the New York Islanders eased to a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.