Nashville’s three leading scorers are 32, 35 and 36. Montréal’s are 27, 25 and 22. That is the whole argument in six numbers.
Canadiens vs Predators brings the youngest good team in the league up against one built on veterans who are still producing. Montréal won both meetings last season.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Game | Nashville Predators at Montréal Canadiens |
| Date | Thursday 8 October 2026 |
| Puck drop | 7:00pm ET · 6:00pm CT · 5:00pm MT · 4:00pm PT |
| Venue | Centre Bell, Montréal |
| 2025-26 head to head | Montréal won both, 7-3 |
| 2025-26 finish | Montréal 6th (106 pts), Nashville 23rd (86 pts) |
| Rest | Nashville with 1 day off, Montréal with 1 day off |
How to watch
| Region | Broadcast |
|---|---|
| Canada | TSN2, RDS |
| United States | SCRIPPS |
TSN2 and RDS have it in Canada. Regional coverage can differ from the national listing, and our how to watch the NHL in Canada page has the full picture.
Canadiens vs Predators odds
Nothing was posted in Canada for this game on 5 October. Boards appear on our NHL odds page as they land.
Montréal’s core is the youngest in the league
Nick Suzuki put up 101 points at plus 37 last season. Cole Caufield scored 51 goals. Juraj Slafkovský added 30 and Ivan Demidov 62 points in his first full year, aged 20.
Lane Hutson is the one that makes the rest work. Seventy-eight points from defence at plus 36, aged 21, and 106 points as a team followed. Noah Dobson added 47 from the other pairing.
Chris Kreider arrived from Anaheim with 50 points and gives the group something it did not have: a forward in his thirties who has won things.
Jakub Dobes went 29-10-4 at a .901 save percentage and has started every game this season.
Nashville is winning with the old guard
Steven Stamkos scored 42 goals at 35, more than anyone else on the roster. Filip Forsberg led the scoring on 75 points with 40 goals of his own. Ryan O’Reilly added 74 at plus eight, the only one of the three on the right side of even.
Roman Josi put up 55 points from defence in 68 games. That is four players carrying a team, and three of them are now 35 or older.
The counterweight is Matthew Wood, who scored 17 goals at 20, and Nils Höglander, who arrived from Vancouver in the summer and scored the winner against Dallas on Saturday.
Juuse Saros went 28-22-8 at .894 across 59 games and stopped 29 of 30 in that Dallas win. Justus Annunen, who had the better rates last season at 2.68 and .907, is day to day.
Montréal won both meetings last season
| Date | Result | Venue | Decided in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-10-16 | Montréal 3-2 Nashville | Montréal | OT |
| 2026-03-28 | Montréal 4-1 Nashville | Nashville | – |
A 3-2 overtime win at the Bell Centre in October and a 4-1 win in Nashville in March. Seven goals to three across the two, and neither game got away from either side.
Team news
| Player | Club | Status | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Justus Annunen | Nashville | Day to day | Check the morning skate |
| Kaiden Guhle | Montréal | Injured Reserve, Groin | No timetable |
| Oliver Kapanen | Montréal | Day to day | Check the morning skate |
| Alexandre Carrier | Montréal | Day to day | Check the morning skate |
Alexandre Carrier is the one to watch on the morning skate. He scored the winner against Toronto on opening night and has been day to day since. Kaiden Guhle was given four to five weeks in mid-September. League-wide availability is on our NHL injury report.
Players to watch
Lane Hutson. Seventy-eight points from the blue line at 21. Nashville does not have a defenceman who moves the puck like that.
Filip Forsberg. Forty goals last season and the only Nashville forward under 30 in the top three scorers.
Cole Caufield. Fifty-one goals last season, and both of his goals this season came in the same game, the 6-5 overtime defeat in Pittsburgh.
Steven Stamkos. Forty-two goals at 35 and already on the board this season.
Score prediction
Nashville Predators 2-4 Montréal Canadiens. Montreal is twenty points better on last season’s table, won both meetings and is at home. Nashville’s scoring sits with players who will not carry a full season at this rate.
Canadiens vs Predators prediction
Montréal should win this. It finished twenty points higher, took both meetings last season and has the better goaltender, the better blue line and five forwards under 27 who all scored 30 or more points.
Nashville’s route is the obvious one: Forsberg and Stamkos are still capable of winning a game between them, and Saros has already stolen one this season. Beating Dallas 2-1 was not a fluke.
Both clubs play on Tuesday before this, Montréal against Carolina and Nashville in Toronto, so the form lines here will have moved by puck drop.
Our lean: Montréal, and the under if the total sits at 6 or higher. Neither meeting last season reached six goals and both clubs have settled goaltending. Where each sits against the other 30 is on our NHL power rankings.
Puck drop is 7:00pm ET on Thursday 8 October 2026 at the Bell Centre in Montreal. That is 6:00pm CT, 5:00pm MT and 4:00pm PT.
Montreal won both meetings, 3-2 in overtime at home in October and 4-1 in Nashville in March.
Jakub Dobes, who has started every game this season. He went 29-10-4 at a .901 save percentage last year.
Yes. He scored 42 goals last season at 35, the most on the Nashville roster, and has already scored this season.
Montreal finished 6th on 106 points. Nashville finished 23rd on 86.
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