(Montreal) PK Subban started the evening by encouraging the Canadiens players to play with the same passion as the fans. It was only the beginning of the party, Thursday night at the Bell Centre.
Cole Caufield scored two power play goals, Samuel Montembeault made 39 saves and the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Nashville Predators 4-3.
Subban, who retired over the summer, was honored ahead of the game for his seven seasons with the Habs. He was cheered on for over a minute by fans as he stepped onto the rink and delivered an inspirational speech.
Commitment was already one of the recurring themes during the last days at the Canadian. There were no passengers in the Habs camp this time around.
Kirby Dach had a goal and an assist, while Jake Evans also hit the target. Jonathan Drouin had three assists for the Canadiens (17-22-3), who won for only the second time in their last 10 outings (2-7-1).
Nino Niederreiter, Filip Forsberg and Juuso Parssinen replied for the Predators (19-16-6). In his first NHL outing, Yaroslav Askarov staggered and stopped 31 shots.
Forwards Mike Hoffman and Michael Pezzetta were left out by head coach Martin St-Louis. The latter opted for a formation with 11 attackers and seven defenders, inserting striker Jesse Ylönen and defender Justin Barron.
The Canadiens will play two games in New York this weekend, as they face the Islanders on Saturday and then the Rangers on Sunday.
An inspired club
Subban’s message obviously did not fall on deaf ears, as the Canadian had a strong start to the game.
Askarov seemed to have difficulty controlling the returns, but the Canadian did not take advantage of a few scrums in front of the Predators net.
The visitors opened the scoring at 10:35, shortly after a power play. Roman Josi sent the puck to the front of the net and it deflected off Niederreiter before ending up in the goal.
The Habs responded with 6:30 to go in the first period. Askarov partially stopped a shot from Evans on a 2-on-1 attack and the puck continued to race behind the goal line.
Dach returned to the charge 1:38 later. He took advantage of a nice throw-in from Ylönen after Drouin had intercepted a clearance from Askarov.
The Predators tied the game 2-2 after 12 seconds in the second period through Forsberg, but the Canadian did not give up.
Nick Suzuki missed an open net before setting the table for Caufield later on on the power play. Caufield scored at 10:03 with a precise one-timer.
Both teams squandered great scoring opportunities before the end of the second period. Evgenii Dadonov and Evans were unable to move the ropes on breakaways. On the side of the Predators, Colton Sissons reached the post during an attack in excess.
Caufield, however, dealt a heavy blow to the Predators after 6: 15 of play in the third period. He scored again on the power play thanks to a good one-timer, this time following a cross pass from Dach.
Parssinen closed the gap with 1:29 to go, after Askarov was replaced by an extra striker. However, the Canadian held on thereafter.