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Bonk, Predators power past Canadiens

Dec 2, 2007 - 4:41 AM MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Radek Bonk did in his former team on Saturday.

Bonk's goal with 47 seconds remaining in the third period capped a four-goal session, and his tally in the first round of the shootout helped the Nashville Predators to a 5-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

The Czech wristed a shot between the legs of goaltender Cristobal Huet in the shootout. Nashville netminder Dan Ellis stopped Alexei Kovalev in the first round, and Andrei Kostitsyn could not get off a shot in the third round after both teams tallied in the second, clinching the win for the Predators.

"I've seen a couple of those moves before," Ellis said. "I saw Kovalev a couple of nights ago shooting on a goalie putting it high glove, so I was aware of that.

"I played with Kostitsyn two or three years ago in Hamilton (of the American Hockey League), and I knew he had either that really hard snap shot or he had that hard fake back to the forehand. It's more just a read-and-react kind of thing."

Bonk, who played with Montreal the last two seasons after spending 10 campaigns in Ottawa, leveled the game at 4-4 after a feverish flurry. Bonk gained possession of the puck in the left faceoff circle and deked to the left before backhanding it past Huet.

"We felt like we could come back, we had a lot of chances in the first," Bonk said. "We had three breakaways, but Huet made big saves for them.

"We just kept coming at them and we got that big goal from (Jed) Ortmeyer on the penalty kill, and that kind of gave us the chance to go after the two points."

With Montreal leading, 3-0, after two periods, Ortmeyer ended Huet's bid for a shutout with 11:20 remaining in the third. After Huet misplayed the puck, Ortmeyer quickly made him pay by blasting it into the vacant net for his first goal of the season.

"We had some chances and didn't score, but then we get that one (penalty) and we're in trouble," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "Then you get that one break when Ortmeyer scores, and that gave us a little life. We were talking on the bench, saying to just stay with it."

Guillaume Latendresse scored the second of his two goals on Saturday just over two minutes later to regain Montreal's three-goal bulge.

Undeterred, David Legwand powered Nashville's rally. Legwand gathered his own rebound and beat Huet with 7:34 remaining for his seventh of the season.

The second overall pick in 1998, Legwand then assisted on defenseman Greg de Vries' tally with 3:05 to play as well as Bonk's game-tying goal.

Christopher Higgins opened the scoring just over nine minutes into the first period.

The former Yale star collected the puck after Kovalev lost control, spun around and beat starting goalie Chris Mason just inside the left goalpost for his 10th tally.

"It's embarrassing how the game went," Higgins said. "We worked hard to get the lead and Cristobal played a good-enough game to get the shutout. To allow them to get back into the game, I'm speechless, to be honest.

"We can talk all we want, but we have to do the job on the ice - we have to play with some passion, play with some pride. We just got booed out of our own building here. How do you enjoy your day off knowing that we gave up a 3-0 lead?"

Tomas Plekanec gave Montreal a two-goal advantage just over 4 1/2 minutes later. His seemingly harmless backhander caromed off the inside of Mason's left skate and into the net to give the Canadiens a 2-0 lead.

The goal marked the end of the night for Mason, who made just four saves. He was replaced with 6:21 remaining in the first period by Ellis, who finished with 18 saves.

"The guy at the other end (Huet) is making some great saves, and you let in a goal like that, it kind of deflates the team," Mason said. "Coach makes those decisions, and I trust his judgment. He's not doing it to try and hurt me, he's doing it for the good of the team."

Latendresse gave Montreal a three-goal cushion 9 1/2 minutes into the second period.

Kyle Chipchura had possession of the puck in the right circle before feeding Latendresse in the slot. The Quebec native faked to the left before backhanding the puck past Ellis for his sixth goal of the season.

"I think we played like we have the last 10 games - good in the first half and a complete disaster in the second," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "The players that are supposed to be doing it for us just aren't."