Laine scores in 2nd straight game, Canadiens shut out Predators

MONTREAL -- Patrik Laine scored for the second straight game, his first two for the Montreal Canadiens, who defeated the Nashville Predators 3-0 at Bell Centre on Thursday.

Laine scored on a 5-on-3 power play at 1:14 of the third period after scoring a power-play goal in his season and Montreal debut on Tuesday, when he returned from a knee injury he sustained in a preseason game on Sept. 28.

“It feels good,” Laine said. “It felt a little bit better than last game, and obviously the power play, it’s always been fun to play that. So that’s been working out well so far and just try to keep it going.”

Sam Montembeault made 29 saves for his third shutout, Jake Evans had a goal and an assist, and Joel Armia scored for the Canadiens (10-13-3), who won 2-1 in overtime against the New York Islanders on Tuesday.

Laine, who was acquired in a trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets on Aug. 19, and Armia were named to Finland’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster Wednesday. Montembeault, who was named to Canada’s roster Wednesday, tied Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets for the NHL lead in shutouts.

“He’s kept us in the game so many times, just unbelievable, and that’s why they picked him for Team Canada, for that reason,” Laine said. “He shows up in big moments. 5-on-3 against, when you look at the guys they have and nothing goes in, he’s been unreal.”

Justus Annunen made 27 saves in his first start for Nashville (7-14-6), which is 0-3-3 in its past six games, including a 3-2 loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.

The Predators acquired Annunen in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.

“He did exactly like ‘Juice’ (Juuse Saros) does, he gave us a chance to win a hockey game,” Predators forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “He was unbelievable, I thought, in the first period. They came out hard and they were good, but he was really good as well. So he gave us a chance to win and we just didn’t win again.”

The Predators were without forward Ryan O'Reilly, who missed what would have been his 1,100th NHL game because of a lower-body injury. He is week to week.

“We try the best we can,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said about losing O’Reilly. “I think it’s an opportunity for other guys to step up and solidify a little bit of a role and add a little bit to the team.”

Evans gave Montreal a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 7:50 of the first period. He carried the puck up ice along the left side with Armia driving hard to the net and put on the brakes before scoring with a wrist shot over Annunen’s right pad from the face-off circle.

“I was about to pass it to [Armia] and then kind of broke that up,” Evans said. “He fooled a lot of people. I’m sure the goalie might have been thinking about that too, so that helped.”

Laine made it 2-0 with his power-play goal at 1:14 of the third. He took Lane Hutson’s cross-ice pass in the left face-off circle and scored on a wrist shot past Annunen stick side that Carrier tried to block after he had broken his stick.

“I just try to shoot the puck when I have a chance,” Laine said. “Obviously 5-on-3 is a little different than 5-on-4, so a little more room. And one guy didn’t have his stick, so it was like a 5-on-2, but it’s not just me, it’s the whole unit. We’re working on it together, reading off each other. It’s only our second game together, but two games, two goals, so I feel we’ve got something going here. And just try to build off of that and create a pretty good weapon for us for the rest of the year.”

Armia shot into an empty net with 46 seconds remaining for the 3-0 final.

“I think it’s a different night, same result kind of thing,” Nashville defenseman Alexandre Carrier said. “We’re trying to produce more offense. We’re trying, but I think we’ve got to get a bit more greasy in front of their net.”

NOTES: Laine is the first player to score at least a goal in each of his first two games for Montreal since Brian Gionta and Travis Moen did so in their first two games with the Canadiens from Oct. 1-3, 2009. … Nashville had a potential power-play goal waved off at 7:00 of the third when the referees ruled the puck was kicked into the net by Gustav Nyquist. … Predators forward Michael McCarron played 13:32 and had two shots on goal after missing six games with an upper-body injury. … Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle did not play due to illness. … Hutson’s five-game assist streak is the second-longest by a Canadiens rookie defenseman. Chris Chelios had a six-game streak in 1984-85.