The Canadiens got off to a strong start, but the Preds got an early power-play opportunity when Kaiden Guhle tripped Kiefer Sherwood just a few minutes in. Despite some good attempts, they weren’t able to convert, or to build much momentum from their power play.
A beautiful pass from Filip Forsberg and an equally-beautiful shot from Ryan O’Reilly got the Preds their best chance of the period a little more than halfway through, but despite the crowd’s excitement Jake Allen had the save. Moments later, however, Forsberg was able to score one of his own, getting the Preds on the board at 15:24.
The second opened with an offensive foray by the Preds, before Luke Schenn and Josh Anderson exchanged punches, and just moments later Gus Nyquist added another to the score off an assist from Forsberg, and seconds later Jordan Harris headed to the box for tripping Cole Smith. The most exciting part of the power play was Juuse Saros coming about a mile out of the net to clear the puck; sadly, the Preds weren’t able to get him another assist.
Halfway through the period, after a lackluster show from the Preds, Alex Carrier took a penalty and the Canadiens headed to the power play for the first time. Nashville got it killed off, and late in the period Saros made a massive save on Joel Armia, but seconds after the save on Armia Brendan Gallagher got a shot through traffic to put the Habs on the board at 16:39.
Just six seconds after that, a deeply bizarre play tied the game up. Saros went behind the net, anticipating a dump-in, and David Savard’s attempt to do so bounced off a stanchion almost at right angles and into the open net.
The third period was a grinding, back-and-forth affair. Carrier made a great diving block to help keep the score tied, but the Canadiens continued to press. Finally the Preds got some looks of their own, and O’Reilly made it 3-2 at 12:19. Nashville also got some good luck–to counter the bad luck earlier–when the refs completely missed a Forsberg high stick.
Joshua Roy then capitalized on a Preds turnover to make it 3-3 at 14:55. Michael McCarron appeared to get it back moments later, but the Habs challenged for the goal having been scored with a high stick, and since the puck did deflect in off the shaft of his stick, it was overturned. Despite outrage from the Bridgestone crowd, the score remained tied.
A badly-botched line change with under two minutes in regulation then got the Preds penalized for too many men on the ice. They made it to overtime, but Nick Suzuki won it for the Canadiens in OT just after the penalty expired.