Pacioretty's OT tally spoils Trotz's night

The Montreal Canadiens spoiled Barry Trotz's milestone night on Saturday.

Max Pacioretty scored 2:31 into overtime as the Canadiens handed the Nashville Predators a 2-1 loss at Bridgestone Arena in the franchise's 1,000th game. Trotz has been behind the bench for each and every one of those contests.

Trotz became just the fourth NHL coach to spend 1,000 games leading one franchise -- but the Preds appeared to be feeling the effects of a five-game road trip. They returned home at 6 a.m. Thursday after winning in Anaheim.

"We weren't skating," Trotz said. "We just weren't ourselves. I thought we got our feet under us in the second and third, and we really didn't give up a whole lot after that."

Trotz didn't think the extra attention to the milestone was a distraction.

"I think it was more of us being a little lethargic," he said. "As the game went on we woke up and played our game."

Pacioretty's tally came on a shot from the left circle. David Desharnais also scored for Montreal and assisted on the game-winner.

"My job in the seam is to pitch in offensively," Pacioretty said. "I think our line did a pretty good job of that, in taking the puck to the net on four-on-four."

Desharnais scored the only goal of the first period with 6:11 remaining. As Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne dove to his right side, Desharnais skated into the crease and backhanded the puck into the open side of the net. Though Desharnais was credited with the backhand, Rinne said the puck went in off his skate.

"I pulled the puck and it hit his skate and went in," Rinne said. "It wasn't a kicking motion. It just happened to hit his skate and go in."

Shea Weber tied the game at 3:20 of the second period with a shorthanded goal. He blasted a slap shot from the top edge of the right circle that went into the net, beating Montreal goaltender Peter Budaj to his right side.
 
"We didn't play our game offensively," Weber said. "Obviously, we knew we were going to generate some chances if we got our pucks past their defense. We turned too many pucks over at the blue lines and that led to too many chances for them.

"They are a very quick team. Their forwards can move. They have some small guys, but they can definitely fly."

Budaj made 25 saves, while Rinne stopped 23 shots.

It was only the third game this season the Predators have had more shots than their opponents. They have been outshot a League-high 13 times.

"It was a tight game," Budaj said. "They played well, but our guys played great. They didn't have many chances in the first period. In the second period there were a few breakdowns and they scored a goal on our power play, which was a momentum swing for them. After that our guys really played well."

Material from wire services and team media was used in this report.