Nashville halts Montreal's winning streak at four

If Pekke Rinne knew just how he and the Nashville Predators keep shutting down the Montreal Canadiens' offense, they'd gladly face them more than once a season.

Rinne made 30 saves for his second shutout, Marcel Goc scored twice and the visiting Nashville Predators ended Montreal's four-game winning streak with a 3-0 victory last night.

Rinne got his 16th career shutout, blanked Montreal for the second time in just over a year. He made 20 saves in a 3-0 home victory over the Canadiens on Nov. 14, 2009.

"I wish there was an answer but I guess it's luck," Rinne said. "We played the same way last year and this year we played really well as a team and that's the story behind it, I guess."

Goc, who opened the scoring early in the second, got his second goal of the game 11:17 into the third to put Nashville up by three. Francis Bouillon and Kevin Klein assisted on both goals.

Cal O'Reilly scored earlier in the third for the Predators, who have won three of four following a five-game losing streak.

"It was big for us," Goc said. "We wanted to show ourselves that we are able to play against teams like that and we don't just try to adapt to their game, we want to make them adapt to our game as well and I think we were able to do that for a little bit today."

Carey Price, who recorded his second shutout in four games Tuesday, made 27 saves for Montreal.

"We just didn't have it," Canadiens captain Brian Gionta said. "The jump wasn't there, the emotion wasn't there, we were just kind of flat right from the beginning and it obviously showed. We weren't crisp on our passes, we weren't making the smart play, we were back on our heels pretty much all night."

Nashville's David Legwand left in the first period with a lower-body injury. Legwand was hunched over as he skated off the ice to the dressing room after he was checked into the boards by Montreal defenseman Roman Hamrlik. He did not return, but Predators coach Barry Trotz said he is day-to-day.

Goc scored 1:19 into the second to give the Predators a 1-0 lead. Former Canadiens defenseman Bouillon fed a centering pass from behind the goal line in the left corner and Goc beat Price with a backhand for his fourth goal.

"Franky came down the boards and made a nice play to me in front," Goc said. "I just spun and it went in the net."

"I think they played a pretty simple, sound style," Canadiens left wing Michael Cammalleri said. "I would assume they're pretty happy with the way they played, but I think that we've got some disappointed people in this room with the way we played tonight, for sure."

In other games:

* At Toronto, Jonas Gustavsson made 29 saves, and Mikhail Grabovski, Phil Kessel and Kris Versteeg scored in the Maple Leafs' 3-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Gustavsson filled in admirably for Jean-Sebastien Giguere, sidelined by a strained groin.

* At Boston, Milan Lucic scored three goals, Tuukka Rask made 41 saves for his first victory of the season, and the Bruins beat the Florida Panthers, 4-0.

* At Dallas, Mike Ribeiro scored his second goal of the game in overtime to lift the Stars over the San Jose Sharks, 5-4.

* Calgary Flames center Olli Jokinen was suspended for three games without pay by the NHL, a day after cross-checking Phoenix's Wojtek Wolski in the head.

* The Edmonton Oilers placed goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin on injured reserve with a groin injury and recalled Martin Gerber from the minors.

* The Los Angeles Kings put left wing Scott Parse on injured reserve before he undergoes hip surgery next week.