O'Reilly's Late Power-Play Strike Caps Predators' Five-Goal Comeback in Montreal

The Nashville Predators produced a gritty road comeback on Thursday night, scoring five unanswered goals to beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 at the Bell Centre. Montreal struck first through captain Nick Suzuki during four-on-four play early in the second and doubled the advantage at 8:50 when Alex Newhook finished off Josh Anderson's feed, seemingly putting the hosts in control of a game they outshot 34-18. But Nashville clawed back through Alexander Kerfoot, who tipped an Adam Wilsby point shot for his first goal as a Predator, before Matthew Wood tied it on the power play with 32 seconds left in the period, scoring amid a crease pileup after Anderson had cross-checked Steven Stamkos into the post. The game turned decisively late in the third when Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson tripped Stamkos in the neutral zone, and Ryan O'Reilly redirected Roman Josi's point shot past rookie Jacob Fowler with 3:16 remaining for the go-ahead goal. Adam Edstrom added two empty-net goals to seal Nashville's first road win of the season, while Juuse Saros earned first-star honours with 32 saves. Fowler, 21, made 15 saves in his first start after being recalled from Laval following Sam Montembeault's practice injury.