The Carolina Hurricanes moved into top spot in the Southeast Division with a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins but lost captain Rod Brind'Amour with a serious knee injury.

Brind'Amour tore knee ligaments during the first period and will undergo surgery on Friday. He is expected to be out of action for four to six months.

Ray Whitney broke a 2-2 tie with a powerplay goal 3:45 into the third period to send flu-hit Carolina to the top of the Southeast standings.

Whitney also assisted on goals by Erik Cole and Eric Staal.

"We got some big performances from some key people today," Whitney said.

"The situation we are in, and our standing, we are all trying to pick it up regardless of who is in the lineup."

Whitney said the loss of their captain was a major blow.

"You are not going to replace (Brind'Amour), that is for sure," he said. "You are not going to replace the guys we lost, but we can't feel sorry for ourselves.

"We had to go out and get a win today."

Cole opened the scoring early in the first period before Brooks Orpik leveled for the Penguins. Evgeni Malkin put Pittsburgh ahead early in the second but Staal made it 2-2 at 10:36.

Whitney scored the go-ahead goal and Ryan Bayda added an insurance score midway through the third period.

Carolina netminder Cam Ward had 20 saves.

The Phoenix Coyotes ended the Dallas Stars' seven-game winning streak with a 5-2 home victory. Radim Vrbata scored a short-handed goal and had two assists.

Mikko Koivu's shootout goal gave the Minnesota Wild a 5-4 road victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

The Tampa Bay Lightning scored four unanswered goals to get past the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3. Martin St. Louis had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who handed the Flyers their fifth successive loss.

Ruslan Fedotenko had two of the New York Islanders' four powerplay goals in a 5-4 road win over the Toronto Maple Leafs .

Jonathan Toews scored twice and assisted on a third goal in the Chicago Blackhawks' 6-1 rout of the Nashville Predators.

Reuters