Canadiens end Preds eight-game streak with OT win

In Nashville, the Predators held leads of 2-0 and 3-2 but could not hold either as they lost, 4-3 to the visiting Montreal Canadiens in extra time.

The loss ended an eight-game streak, but at least gave them a standings point.

Nick Suzuki hit for the game winner with 17 seconds gone in the extra session for the victory.

“It’s a nice feeling,” Suzuki said. “We could’ve won a couple in Florida there (last week). It’s nice to be on the winning side of that overtime.”

Jake Allen made 25 saves in the win,making a case for a trade by Friday.

The Canadiens moved to 24-28-10 for only their second win in nine games.

“I think in the second we bent but we didn’t break so to speak,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “In a lot of our second periods lately, sometimes we tend to break more than bend. We just stayed the course. We knew we could be better during the second period, but we knew we were playing a really good team and sometimes you’ve just got to weather the storm.”

Filip Forsberg opened the scoring in the game at 15:24 of the first period fror a 1-0 lead to Nashville, scoring off a backhand from near the goal line.

“When you’re rolling, you want to keep rolling,” Forsberg said. “Obviously, we know how crucial the points are. A little disappointed with the effort, but we got a point at least.”

Gustav Nyquist pushed the lead to 2-0 at 5:11 of the middle frame, coring off a tuck at the left side of the net.

Montreal struck twice in six seconds to get the game even, 2-2.

Brendan Gallagher scored t 16:39 to trim the deficit to 2-1.

“It maybe isn’t showing with the results right now,” Gallagher said. “Individually, I think you can really see a lot of players’ games are being risen to the next level. Even when you look at the start of the year to where we were and where we are now, you can just see improvements and there’s excitement around our team.

“Our coaching staff does a really good job of keeping us positive and understanding, but also teaching at the same time. I think they’ve brought us to a level where we’re starting to feel really good about our game.”

Montreal’s David Savard knotted it, 2-2.

The goal came off a dump in with the puck caroming off a stanchion and into an empty cage.

The Predators dropped to 35-25-3.

“Probably not to the standard that we’ve held, but that standard is hard to keep,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “A little bit of sloppiness at times. I thought we were really good halfway through the second period. We don’t get a puck deep, take a penalty and they get a little mojo going. It’s a hard league to win.”

Ryan O’Reilly reclaimed the lead for Nashville at 12:19, scoring off a shot from the right side for a 3-2 score.

“Obviously, just a bad bounce,” O’Reilly said. “He was just trying to rim the puck and it goes in. [Saros] is making the right read, and it’s just one of those things that happens. We’ve gotten some good bounces too along the stretch here. It’s unfortunate.”