NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Rob Valicevic has been in the right place at the right time lately for the Nashville Predators.

The center, who scored only one goal in the first 13 games this season, has six in the last four, including two Thursday night as the Predators beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1.

``Things are going well, and when they go well, I guess they really go well,'' said Valicevic, the lowest-paid player on the roster who leads the second-year franchise with seven goals.

Valicevic, who got the franchise's first hat trick last week, opened the scoring at 3:23 of the first period. His second goal came 15 seconds into the third on a power play.

``He's hot right now, and we need that,'' teammate Scott Walker said. ``He goes to the net all the time, and he comes to play all the time. When you're hot like that, you just have to keep it going.''

Valicevic said the streak has boosted his confidence, and he doesn't want to change anything right now. He took a team-high five shots against Montreal.

``Everybody goes through it at one point or another. It's something you just have to enjoy, while you have it and ride it out as long as you can because you know you're going to have bad times, where no matter what you shoot, it's not going in,'' he said.

The Canadiens could use some luck. They came into the game with only two victories in 12 games and without two of their top three scorers. Martin Rucinsky was out with a concussion, and Saku Koivu had shoulder surgery Thursday that will keep him out 12 weeks.

The Canadiens took 33 shots on goal, but Miloslav Guren's slap shot in the first summed up their night. The puck went through Nashville goalie Mike Dunham's pads, but defenseman Joel Bouchard cleared it inches from the line.

Nashville, which has won three of four following a five-game losing streak, scored the first two goals and never trailed. Cliff Ronning had an unassisted goal in the first, and Scott Walker and Mark Mowers added their first goals of the season in the third. It was the first NHL goal of Mowers' career.

``Right now the only way we can win games is if we try to keep it close,'' Montreal coach Alain Vigneault said. ``We don't have a lot of offense right now.''

Karl Dykhuis finally got Montreal on the board seven minutes into the second on a power play, but the Canadiens went scoreless on four other power plays.

Nashville answered less than three minutes later with the first penalty shot in its short history. Kimmo Timonen, hooked by Brian Savage on a short-handed breakaway, back-handed the puck past goalie Jeff Hackett on the penalty shot.