BLUES It wasn't pretty, but the St. Louis Blues got the job done Thursday night in Ottawa, erasing both a two-goal deficit and a one-goal deficit to earn a 6-4 win against the Senators at Canadian Tire Centre.
The Blues remain undefeated in regulation in 2019-20 and have points in four consecutive games (3-0-1).
"Obviously, with winning a [Stanley] Cup (last season), I think (we're) much more confident," Ryan O'Reilly said. "Having been through that as a group, I think we just seem to get more bounces. Last year, at the beginning of the year, every bounce that could go wrong did. We couldn't find a way to close games out. But it's a different year, and we've improved."
David Perron had two goals in Thursday's game to extend his season-opening point streak to four games (three goals, two assists), and Jake Allen made 25 saves to earn his 137th win for the Blues, moving into a tie with Curtis Joseph for second in franchise history.
With a point Saturday against the Canadiens, the Blues will establish a new franchise record point streak (five games) to start a season and would become the 11th defending Stanley Cup champion in NHL history to have points in five straight in the ensuring season. The last team to accomplish it was the Detroit Red Wings, who went 5-0-1 in 1997-98.
CANADIENS Joel Armia scored his third goal of the season, Max Domi contributed his second and Carey Price made 30 saves, but that wasn't enough to help the Montreal Canadiens past the Detroit Red Wings, who spoiled Montreal's home opener with a 4-2 win on Thursday night at Bell Centre.
Montreal fell to 1-1-2 on the season.
"We're not sharp, and at the end of the day we've got to find that sharpness if we're going to win some hockey games," Canadiens Head Coach Claude Julien told NHL.com.
If there was a bright spot for the Canadiens, it's that they scored a power-play goal for the fourth consecutive game. Last season, the Canadiens had 31 power-play goals - the fewest in the NHL.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues and Canadiens will meet for the first of two meetings this season, with the next one coming Oct. 19 at Enterprise Center. The teams split the season series in 2018-19, with the home team winning each game.
Overall, the Blues are 6-1-0 in their last seven games against the Canadiens and 2-1-0 in their last three trips to Montreal.
