Subban helps Predators beat his former team

Defenseman P.K. Subban collected two assists against his former team as the Nashville Predators continued a season-high six-game road trip with a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

In his third trip to Montreal since being traded to Nashville in 2016 for fellow defenseman Shea Weber, Subban registered the primary assists on two goals by Craig Smith.

Subban recorded two assists for the fourth time this season. He also recorded his 300th career assist and Nashville improved to 1-0-1 on its trip after a two-goal lead was erased in a 4-3 loss to the Red Wings on Friday in Detroit.

Smith recorded his 17th career two-goal game and first of the season by scoring for the third straight game in the first two periods.

Defenseman Mattias Ekholm and Viktor Arvidsson, with an empty-net goal in the final minute, also tallied for the Predators, who improved to 3-5-2 in their last 10 games and 2-8-3 in their last 13 road games.

Weber scored for Montreal, which lost for only the second time in seven games and sixth time in 18 contests.

Nashville backup goaltender Juuse Saros made 27 saves.

Montreal’s Carey Price made 28 saves in his second game back from missing three contests with a lower-body injury. He fell to 8-3-0 in his last 11 games and also played after exiting practice early on Friday.

Nashville went ahead with 9:16 left in the first when Smith went to the net after a faceoff and was in a position to sweep the rebound of Subban’s blast near the blue line by Price.

The Predators took a 2-0 lead with 36 seconds left when Ekholm’s slap shot from the left point sailed by Price.

Weber made it 2-1 with 7:13 left in the second by scoring his sixth goal in 18 games since returning from knee surgery when his wrist shot sailed through traffic and into the net.

Smith restored Nashville’s two-goal lead 18 seconds later after getting the rebound of Subban’s shot from the right point.

—Field Level Media