(Thursday, February 22nd)

Final Score: Montreal 6, Nashville 5 (SO)

Nashville, TN (Sports Network) - Saku Koivu tallied the game-winner in a shootout to go along with two assists as Montreal edged Nashville, 6-5, at Gaylord Entertainment Center.

Nashville's Paul Kariya scored the first goal in the shootout before Tomas Plekanec evened things for Montreal. After Martin Erat's shot was saved by Jaroslav Halak, Koivu converted to give the Canadiens the advantage.

It was up to newly acquired Predator Peter Forsberg to keep it going, but he never got a clean shot before falling in front of the net to end the game.

Mark Streit and Sergei Samsonov each had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens, who have won three straight. Michael Ryder, Garth Murray and Alexander Perezhogin rounded out the scoring for Montreal.

Halak stopped 26 of the 31 shots he faced for his third win of the campaign.

Steve Sullivan and Scott Hartnell each tallied a goal and an assist, while Jean-Pierre Dumont recorded a goal and two helpers for the Predators, who have dropped three of four. Tomas Vokoun made 22 saves in defeat.

With 48 seconds remaining in regulation, Samsonov scored the equalizer to send the game into overtime. From behind the box, Plekanec fed the puck to Samsonov, who sent a wrister over the stick side of Vokoun.

Neither team could muster much offense in the extra period as Montreal had two shots on goal compared to just one from Nashville.

Nashville wasted no time in taking the lead with two goals in the first four minutes of the game.

The first tally came on the power play when Sullivan took a feed from Ryan Suter and lit the lamp with a 26-foot wrister just 1:22 into the first period. Just 2:35 later, Shea Weber found the net with a wrist shot for the two-goal advantage.

Then, at the 10:43 mark of the first, Ryder converted on the power play and cut Montreal's deficit to 2-1 with a slap shot.

However, the Predators regained their two-goal edge just over three minutes later with Hartnell's tip-in on the man advantage, but the Canadiens made it a 3-2 contest when Streit netted the puck from 10-feet out with 3:33 left in the opening frame.

Early in the second, Dumont netted the disc with a wrister on the power play to put Nashville up 4-2. Montreal, though, once again closed within one when Murray lifted a backhander past Vokoun at the 12:57 mark.

The Canadiens finally tied it at four on Perezhogin's snap shot 4:08 into the third. However, David Legwand's tally just under two minutes later gave the Predators a 5-4 edge.

Game Notes

Nashville finished 3-for-7 on the power play while Montreal converted twice on five chances...Attendance was 15,808.

02/22 23:30:15 ET