The Nashville Predators (27-42-8, 62 points) lost their sixth straight game, falling 2-1 to the Montreal Canadiens (38-30-9, 85 points) Sunday at Bridgestone Arena.
Steven Stamkos scored the lone goal of the game for Nashville – who outshot Montreal 37-17 – and Juuse Saros made 15 saves in the loss.
Cole Caufield and Patrik Laine scored , and Jakub Dobes made 36 saves for the Canadiens, who currently hold the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, have won four straight.
How the Predators Lined Up vs. Montreal
Bunting-O'Reilly-Evangelista
Forsberg-Stamkos-L'Heureux
Smith-McCarron-Wood
Bellows-Svechkov
Skjei-Blankenburg
Del Gaizo-Barron
Englund-Oesterle
Stastney
Saros
Annunen
Extra: Marchessault (day-to-day, lower-body), Sissons (week-to-week, upper-body)
IR: Josi, Wilsby, Lauzon
The Predators will ice 11 forwards and seven defensemen against Montreal. Defenseman Spencer Stastney, who missed Thursday's game against Dallas and was listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, returns to the lineup, while Colton Sissons (week-to-week) and Jonathan Marchessault (day-to-day) remain out with lower-body injuries.
Matthew Wood, the Predators' first-round pick (No. 15 overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft, will make his NHL debut with Nashville just over one week after signing his three-year, entry-level contract upon the conclusion of his final collegiate season at the University of Minnesota.
Juuse Saros will get the start in goal for the Predators after being pulled from his last start after two periods in Tuesday's 8-4 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Head coach Andrew Brunette, who is away from the team while he attends to a family matter, is replaced behind the bench by assistant coach Todd Richards.
Predators vs. Canadiens: Live Updates
First Period (NSH 1, MTL 0)
Nashville scored first in this one, when Filip Forsberg forced a turnover in the offensive zone and found Steven Stamkos for the snipe at the 4:19 mark of the first period.
Michael McCarron appeared to score Nashville's second goal of the game approximately three minutes later, but a successful goaltender interference call by the Canadiens determined that Nick Blankenburg had in fact made contact with Jakub Dobes and the goal was waved off.
The Predators carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. Shots in the first period were 8-4 in favor of Nashville.
Second Period (NSH 1, MTL 2)
It took Cole Caufield less than two minutes to tie this one up for Montreal in the second period. Receiving a feed from Nick Suzuki in transition, Caufield skated the puck into the zone and beat Saros five-hole off the rush at the 1:40 mark of the middle frame.
Patrik Laine gave the Canadiens their first lead of the game four minutes later with a laser from the left face-off circle to make it 2-1.
Despite trailing by a goal, Nashville had a 15-8 shot advantage in the second period.
Third Period (NSH 1, MTL 2)
The Predators once again had the 14-5 shot advantage, but neither team scored in the third period and the final score stood at 2-1.