Germany midfielder Mesut Ozil inspired Werder Bremen to a 6-0 thrashing of Freiburg which sent it top of the Bundesliga.
Ozil set up four goals and scored one as Bremen moved ahead of Bayer Leverkusen - which travels to Bayern Munich on Sunday - on goals scored and extended its unbeaten run to 20 games.
Hugo Almeida netted twice, in the 33rd and 57th minutes, sandwiching Marko Marin's effort in the 55th.
Ozil netted in the 67th minute, Naldo converted a penalty in the 73rd minute and Markus Rosenberg completed the rout eight minutes from time.
Hannover lost its first game since the suicide of their goalkeeper Robert Enke, 2-0 at Schalke.
A minute's silence was held at grounds in Enke's memory, while the Hannover team also wore a No.1 - Enke's number - on the front of its shirts.
The win moved the Royal Blues up to third, a point behind the leaders.
Jefferson Farfan opened the scoring for the hosts after 69 minutes and Jan Moravek added a second one minute into stoppage time.
Hoffenheim kept up the pressure on the leading group with a thumping 4-0 win away to struggling Cologne.
The visitors came flying out of the blocks and goals from Carlos Eduardo and Chinedu Obasi put them two up after just 11 minutes.
Demba Ba effectively settled the contest with a third after 46 minutes and Vedad Ibisevic completed the rout with a 90th-minute penalty.
At the other end of the table, Zdravko Kuzmanovic struck a late equaliser to secure a 1-1 draw for Stuttgart before being sent off against fellow strugglers Hertha Berlin.
Adrian Ramos gave Hertha the lead after 49 minutes but Kuzmanovic levelled with eight minutes to play.
The Serbian was dismissed just three minutes later.
The point was the capital club's first on the road this term, but it stayed bottom on just five points, while Stuttgart dropped into the bottom three.
Nurnberg scored a dramatic injury-time winner as it won 3-2 at defending champions Wolfsburg.
Albert Bunjaku put the visitors ahead in the 56th minute but Ashkan Dejagah equalised within three minutes.
Bunjuku restored Nurnberg's advantage in the 64th minute but Wolfsburg responded well again and levelled thanks to a Grafite penalty 10 minutes from time.
But Nurnberg had the final say with Peer Kluge scoring the winner with the final touch of the game to climb to 14th.
An own goal by Oka Nikolov and a Roel Brouwers strike gave Borussia Monchengladbach a 2-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt, for whom Pirmin Schwegler scored a late penalty.
In the late kick-off, Borussia Dortmund and Mainz exchanged blows but neither was able to land the knockout as they shared a 0-0 draw at the Westfalen Stadion.
Schalke 04 2 (Farfan 69, Moravek 90)
Hannover 96 0
Borussia Dortmund 0
Mainz 0
VfB Stuttgart 1 (Kuzmanovic 82)
Hertha Berlin 1 (Ramos 49)
VfL Wolfsburg 2 (Dejagah 59, Grafite 79p)
Nurnberg 3 (Bunjaku 56, 64, Kluge 90)
FC Cologne 0
TSG Hoffenheim 4 (Eduardo 5, Ogbuke 11, Ba 46, Ibisevic 90p)
Eintracht Frankfurt 1 (Schwegler 86p)
Borussia Munchengladbach 2 (Nikolov 54og, Brouwers 65)
SC Freiburg 0
Werder Bremen 6 (Almeida 33, 57, Marin 55, Ozil 67, Naldo 73p, Rosenberg 82)