Pittsburgh: Montreal took sole position of third place in the NHL Eastern Conference with a 6-5 shootout victory over conference-leading Pittsburgh on Thursday, with David Desharnais scoring the lone goal in the shootout.

The Canadiens moved two points clear of divisional rivals Toronto and Tampa Bay, which both lost.

Elsewhere, the New York Rangers picked up the form they took into the Olympic break by beating Chicago, while a Joe Pavelski hat-trick led San Jose to a big win at Philadelphia.

Montreal goaltender Peter Budaj, in his second straight start for the injured Carey Price, stopped three Penguins in the shootout, including Evgeni Malkin’s slap shot to end it.

In regulation, Daniel Briere scored twice, once on the power play, and Max Pacioretty also scored with the man advantage, his 27th of the year. Brendan Gallagher and Alexei Emelin also netted for the visitors.

Sidney Crosby, who leads the NHL with 80 points, scored his 29th goal of the season for the Penguins and added an assist while James Neal, Deryk Engelland, Olli Maatta and Brandon Sutter also scored.

New York goaltender Cam Talbot, subbing for resting Olympian Henrik Lundqvist, stopped 31 shots to help the Rangers edge Chicago 2-1.

Talbot got the nod after Lundqvist received extended work in Sweden’s run to the gold medal game in the Olympics. Talbot made the most of his opportunity, getting his 11th career win in 18 NHL games — all this season.

Derick Brassard and Rick Nash scored for the Rangers, who have won six of their past seven.

Chicago’s Peter Regin scored 11.6 seconds from the end of the game and Patrick Kane nearly tied it seconds later, but Talbot stopped him with his pad.

San Jose’s Joe Pavelski scored all three of his goals in the second period to set up the Sharks’ 7-3 win at Philadelphia.

Raffi Torres and Logan Couture each scored twice in their return to the San Jose lineup following long-term injuries.

Andrej Meszaros had a spectacular goal and Matt Read and Brayden Schenn also scored for the Flyers, who had won four straight going into the Sochi break.

Nashville’s Patric Hornqvist scored a power-play goal at 13:56 of the third period to send the Predators to a 3-2 win over Tampa Bay.

Matt Cullen and Roman Josi also scored power-play goals for Nashville, whose three man-advantage goals was a season high.

Martin St. Louis had both goals for the Lightning.

Detroit’s Johan Franzen had a hat trick to lead the Red Wings to a 6-1 victory at Ottawa.

Riley Sheahan, Tomas Jurco and Tomas Tatar also scored for the Red Wings, who have a five-point lead over the Senators for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Bobby Ryan scored Ottawa’s sole goal.

Winnipeg’s Olli Jokinen scored the shootout winner to lift the Jets over Phoenix 3-2.

Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler scored in regulation for the Jets, who are 10-3-1 under new head coach Paul Maurice.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Martin Hanzal scored for Phoenix, which now leads Winnipeg by only one point in the chase for a wild card.

Dallas’ Jamie Benn had a goal and two assists to lead the Stars over Carolina 4-1.

New Jersey’s Adam Henrique scored twice to lead the Devils over Columbus 5-2.

New York’s Lubomir Visnovsky scored 1:55 into overtime to give the Islanders a see-sawing 5-4 victory over Toronto.

Los Angeles’ Dustin Brown had a goal and an assist to help the Kings defeat Calgary 2-0.

Minnesota goalie Darcy Kuemper made 21 saves to earn his second career shutout and give the Wild a 3-0 win against Edmonton.

Washington’s Alex Ovechkin scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and had two assists as the Capitals edged Florida 5-4.