Jaroslav Halak made 27 saves to get the best of his old club, the Montreal Canadiens in a 4-1 win. Halak also snapped the Habs five-game winning streak, and improves his record against the NHL Eastern Conference teams this season to 7-2-1.
This was the only regular season meeting between the two clubs and with the Blues well back in the Western Conference playoff race, a Stanley Cup Final matchup is definitely not going to happen.
Carey Price made 23 saves in a losing effort.
The events of the past 48 hours may have had a draining effect on the Canadiens, which took away the long anticipated matchup between Price and Halak. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear the “I told you so,” call ins, from the less educated GMs, on the Montreal post-game shows.
Andy McDonald had a goal and two assists on the night for the Blues, against a Canadiens team that took some unneeded penalties in the second period.
Jeff Halpern had the lone goal for the Canadiens.
The backbreaker for Montreal came late in the third period. While attempting to move the puck up ice, and allow Price to get off the ice for the extra attacker, a weak cross ice pass was intercepted by McDonald at the Habs blue line. Former Canadiens prospect Matt D`Agostini tipped the puck past Price to seal the win.
It was certainly an opportunity lost for the Canadiens, who had a chance to pick up a Boston Bruins team that lost in overtime, earlier in the evening, to the Buffalo Sabres.
The Canadiens travel next to Pitssburgh to face the Penguins Saturday afternoon.
| SCORERS | |
| First period | |
| 12:30 MTL | Jeff Halpern, 11 (Alexandre Picard, 5 Paul Mara, 3) (MTL: 22 15 13 14 45 31 STL: 26 41 32 64 46 74) |
| 18:59 STL | David Backes, 24 (Andy Mcdonald, 20) (MTL: 44 11 21 20 57 31 STL: 10 42 41 36 23 12) |
| Second period | |
| 01:06 STL | Andy Mcdonald, 17 (Matt D’agostini, 17) (MTL: 22 15 14 45 57 31 STL: 10 28 42 41 36 27) |
| Third period | |
| 18:31 STL | Matt D’agostini, 14 (Andy Mcdonald, 21) (MTL: 11 21 20 46 31 76 STL: 10 28 42 41 36 27) |
| 19:37 STL | Tj Oshie, 8 (SH) (Patrik Berglund, 27) (MTL: 21 13 14 20 46 81 STL: 41 64 74 21 27) |
Three Stars: 1. Jaroslav Halak 2. Andy McDonald 3. Matt D`Agostini
The Game within: Shift Charts | Head to Head | Corsi/Fenwick
The winning view from St. Louis Game Time
