Josi, Ekholm help Predators top Canadiens

NASHVILLE -- Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm and Tommy Novak each had a goal and an assist, and the Nashville Predators defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday.

Six different players scored for the second time in three games for the Predators (16-14-6), who defeated the Anaheim Ducks 6-1 on Dec. 30. Juuse Saros made 24 saves, and Nino Niederreiter had three assists.
"When you have that, it's a recipe to be able to win regularly, where it doesn't put so much pressure on certain guys to be able to score," Nashville coach John Hynes said. "When you have depth scoring in your lineup, it certainly gives your team the best chance to win on a regular basis, and I also think it creates internal competition. … If you want to get the ice time and you want to play, you have to be able to keep up with the groups that are playing well."

Cole Caufield, Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher scored, and Sam Montembeault made 28 saves for the Canadiens (15-20-3), who have lost six straight (outscored 32-11).
"We've just got to figure out a way to play better defensively," Montreal defenseman David Savard said. "We gave up Grade A chances, and those are the ones that hurt. We play good sometimes, and sometimes we miss an assignment or something and give [up] a Grade A chance. It's hard on our goalies, it's hard to make those saves when great players are coming down the pipe."
Cody Glass gave Nashville a 1-0 lead at 4:10 of the first period, redirecting a point shot by Ekholm on a power play.
Colton Sissons made it 2-0 at 5:49 after receiving a backhand saucer pass from Filip Forsberg on a 2-on-1.
Ekholm extended it to 3-0 at 10:42 on a slap shot from the point through a screen.
Caufield scored with a backhand top shelf on a breakaway to cut it to 3-1 with 50 seconds remaining in the period.
Anderson then made it 3-2 at 6:40 of the second period after a neutral zone turnover, scoring glove side with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.
"I felt tonight offensively, I thought we transitioned and broke [out with] the puck well," Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. "We played with the puck, possessed across the line with the puck more than we have in the past. Happy with that, I don't think that's our problem."

Novak restored the Predators' two-goal lead at 8:18 after receiving a pass by Yakov Trenin from below the goal line to make it 4-2.
Josi extended it to 5-2 at 17:48, scoring on a wrist shot from the left circle, and Matt Duchene made it 6-2 at 4:43 of the third period on a one-timer from the right circle during a 5-on-3 power play.
Nashville was 2-for-4 with the man-advantage and has scored six power-play goals in its past six games, second-best in the NHL (35.3 percent) during that span.
"Usually when you shoot the puck, good things happen," Ekholm said. "Our power play last year, in my opinion, was the biggest reason we got in the playoffs. So, we know we need to get it going, and we have the same personnel so we can do it. It's a matter of getting some confidence again."

Gallagher scored on a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle after receiving a cross-crease pass from Mike Hoffman at 16:59 for the 6-3 final.
The Predators have scored 16 goals in their past three games, including a 5-4 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
"We've worked on the [goal-scoring] process pretty heavily for the last 3 1/2 weeks to a month, and I think like in anything when something is a little stagnant or you're in a little bit of a rut, sometimes you don't just jump right out of it," Hynes said.

"You take steps, and we've had a lot of emphasis on it, video, 1-on-1 meetings, practice time. I think we all felt internally that, even two or three weeks ago, it was turning and our game was going in the right direction."
NOTES: Savard had two shots on goal, four blocked shots and was plus-1 in 23:03 of ice time after missing 13 games with an upper-body injury. … Predators defenseman Roland McKeown had one shot on goal, three hits and two blocked shots in 14:39 after being recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League on Monday. … Forsberg extended his point streak to four games (five goals, three assists). … Glass played his 100th NHL game. … Niederreiter's three-assist game was his second in the NHL. His first was Nov. 3, 2013, as a member of the Minnesota Wild. … Novak has six points (three goals, three assists) in seven games since being recalled from Milwaukee on Dec. 19.