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Associated Press 10y

Desharnais lifts Canadiens past Predators in OT

NHL, Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators

The Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- David Desharnais scored at 1:43 of overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night.

Desharnais stripped the puck from defenseman Mattias Ekholm along the left boards, skated to the left faceoff dot and ripped a slap shot over goalie Carter Hutton's left shoulder.

P.K. Subban, Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec also scored to help Montreal win for the second time in three games.

Gabriel Bourque, Nick Spaling, and Shea Weber scored for Nashville. The Predators have lost three straight.

The Predators lost rookie defenseman Seth Jones late in the first period when a shot from the left point by Montreal defenseman Andrei Markov hit traffic in front and struck Jones on the left side of his face. He did not return to the game.

Subban opened the scoring at 11:30 of the first period, taking the puck from the right point into the high slot and then beating goalie Marek Mazanec with a slap shot. It was the reigning Norris Trophy winner's fifth goal of the season.

Just under 2 minutes later, Pacioretty doubled the Montreal lead. Brendan Gallagher sent a pass from inside the Montreal blue line to Pacioretty in the neutral zone. He drove down the left side around defenseman Kevin Klein and beat Mazanec with a backhand.

Plekanec made it 3-0 with 5:23 left in the period when he redirected a feed from Brian Gionta past Mazanec.

That spelled the end of the night for Mazanec. Hutton, who started Nashville's last five games, relieved him. Hutton was lifted from Nashville's last game Thursday night in Tampa after allowing four goals on 14 shots.

Montreal's three-goal outburst ended a stretch of eight games in which it failed to score in the opening period.

Bourque got Nashville on the board at 11:51 of the second when he beat Carey Price with a wrist shot from the lower part of the right circle.

With less than 2 minutes remaining in the period and Nashville on the power play, Spaling tipped home a pass by Shea Weber.

Nashville carried the play in the second, outshooting Montreal 20-6 in the period.

Weber tied it 3 with a power-play goal at 13:40 of the third. Just 8 seconds after Subban was sent off for tripping Matt Cullen, Mike Fisher found Weber on the left side, where he beat Price with a one-timer for his team-leading ninth goal.

Price made 31 saves for his 17th win of the season.

Game notes
Entering Saturday, Nashville and Colorado were the only teams Price had failed to beat. ... Nashville C Colin Wilson returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch Thursday night in Tampa ... Montreal D Josh Georges missed the game because of a lower-body injury, ending his games streak at 167.

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