Hannover rose to second place in the Bundesliga after winning 3-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
Mohammed Abdellaoue gave the hosts the lead in the 15th minute, Christian Schulz made it 2-0 after 21 minutes before Didier Ya Konan finished off Frankfurt with his goal in the 89th.
Hannover's victory comes after neither Bayer Leverkusen nor Mainz could win to gain ground on Bundesliga leader Borussia Dortmund. Hannover has won six of its past seven games and has 34 points, 12 behind Dortmund. Frankfurt has lost four of its past six matches for 26 points in eighth place.
"Many teams are not getting the points that they usually do, and that was the case yesterday as well," Hannover coach Mirko Slomka said. "Sure it feels good to be (second in the league). But we just have to continue to do what we are doing.
"Our biggest strength is winning the ball and then pushing forward quickly, and that worked again today."
Abdellaoue latched on to a long through ball by Sergio Pinto and beat goalkeeper Oka Nikolov to give Hannover the lead.
After both teams missed decent chances, Hannover doubled the lead when Schulz headed home Konstantin Rausch's corner.
Hannover nearly made it 3-0 after 53 minutes but Pinto struck the post.
After Frankfurt pushed forward looking to pull a goal back, Ya Konan hit home a cross from Lars Stindl.
In the late game, 10-man Kaiserlautern came back to draw 1-1 with Cologne at home to rise to 10th place with 22 points. Cologne has 16 points in 16th place.
Cologne was missing Youssef Mohamad, Kevin McKenna, Miso Brecko, Konstantinos Giannoulis and Mato Jajalo plus assistant coach Thomas Hassler after they were all infected with swine flu.
Cologne went ahead on one of the oddest goals of the season. Kaiserlautern defender Rodnei played a back pass to his 'keeper that glanced off the post, and Lukas Podolski blasted home the rebound in the 29th minute.
Cologne was unlucky to only lead 1-0 at the break after twice hitting the framework of the goal, and with Kaiserlautern striker Srdjan Lakic having been sent off after receiving a straight red card in the 39th minute.
Jan Moravek equalized for Kaiserslautern in the 51st minute, and the hosts nearly hit the front 10 minutes later but Florian Dick struck the crossbar.
