Caufield scores 45th goal, Canadiens defeat Predators for 4th straight win

NASHVILLE -- Cole Caufield scored his 45th goal of the season in a 4-1 win for the Montreal Canadiens against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.

Caufield became the first Canadiens player with a 45-goal season since Stephane Richer scored 51 in 1989-90.

Ivan Demidov, Oliver Kapanen and Alex Newhook each had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens (41-21-10), who have won four in a row and five of their past six. Nick Suzuki had two assists, and Jacob Fowler made 23 saves.

“I think as a team we’ve been getting more and more mature each game with the chances that we’re giving up,” Fowler said. “This time of year, we could score a lot, but when we dial in like that defensively we’re a hard team to beat.”

The Canadiens are third in the Atlantic Division, remaining four points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning and two points ahead of the fourth-place Boston Bruins.

Juuse Saros made 28 saves for the Predators (34-30-9), who have lost consecutive games after winning their previous five.

“I think the urgency level has got to rise all over the ice,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “For tonight, we didn’t execute. And when you don’t execute against a team like that that’s fast, young and hungry, you’re kind of chasing it and you play slow. We played slow a lot of the night, and therefore it’s hard to sustain or get into any zone time.”

Nashville holds the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Los Angeles Kings.

“Every game is a must win,” Predators captain Roman Josi said. “It doesn’t matter who we play. We need to get points. There’s a lot of things we can learn from tonight and be better tomorrow.”

Demidov gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 11:34 of the first period on a wrist shot on the rush from the right circle that beat Saros on the blocker side. Suzuki recorded his 300th NHL assist on the play.

“Usually when you create turnovers with our structure and paying attention to that, you’re going to get odd-man rushes,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said. “It’s rare that you’re going to get odd-man rushes from a breakout, break the other team down completely and get an odd-man rush. It’s really hard, not that it never happens. But I feel they’re playing the game that’s in front of them.”

Kapanen made it 2-0 at 3:12 of the second period on a shot from in front of the crease on a pass from Newhook.

Caufield extended the lead to 3-0 at 14:45 on a wrist shot from the slot after he forced a turnover from Predators forward Jonathan Marchessault.

Newhook made it 4-0 at 16:23 on a one-timer from the left circle on a backhand pass from Demidov.

“Winning teams, you need some scoring aside from your first line,” Newhook said. “I think we know we’re capable of providing a pretty solid secondary scoring second line there, and I think we hold ourselves to that standard as well. Nice to see some results tonight but got to keep moving forward here.”

Zachary L'Heureux scored for the Predators to make it 4-1 at 16:26 of the third period. Ryan Ufko dumped the puck in, and it bounced off the glass right to L'Heureux in front of the net.

“I feel like we’re at our best as a team when we’re kind of cycling down low and winning battles down there and just possessing the puck,” Predators forward Luke Evangelista said. “It feels like it’s not quite clicking in that sense right now and bounces aren’t quite going our way. That’s going to happen throughout a season. You’re going to have spurts like that, but it’s an important time of the year so just try and regroup as quick as possible and get back to our game.”

NOTES: Lane Hutson, who assisted on Kapanen’s goal, became the first defenseman and third player in Canadiens history to record consecutive seasons with 60 assists, joining Guy Lafleur (6 from 1974-75 to 1979-80) and Peter Mahovlich (2 from 1974-75 to 1975-76). … Predators forward Steven Stamkos’ four-game goal streak ended.