Blues defeat Canadiens for fifth straight time

ST. LOUIS -- Carter Hutton made 33 saves for the St. Louis Blues in a 3-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Scottrade Center on Tuesday.

WATCH: [All Canadiens vs. Blues highlights]
Hutton has allowed two goals in his past three starts and made 94 saves for a .979 save percentage.
"It's a product of the team too," Hutton said. "We're playing well. I think I just catch everybody off guard now because I play a few more times a week than I used to. I was playing well once every two weeks. Now it's a big deal.
"I think I'm the same goalie. I'm just playing more, to be honest, and confident in what I do."
Ivan Barbashev
, Patrik Berglund and Alexander Steen scored for St. Louis (31-18-3), which has won three in a row and five of its past six. The Blues have defeated the Canadiens five straight times.
Charles Hudon scored and Carey Price made 28 saves for Montreal (20-24-6), which has lost two straight and four of its past six.

The Canadiens outshot the Blues 11-0 before St. Louis got its first shot on goal with 2:57 remaining in the first period.
"[Hutton] played very well; we had a lot of chances early and weren't able to get one by him," Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty said. "Obviously they got a goal and got some momentum. We weren't able to solve the goalie early enough to give ourselves a chance to win."
Hutton is 8-1-1 in his past 10 starts with a 1.72 goals-against average and .942 save percentage.

"I think we're seeing it's a mixture of confidence and desire to stay in there," Blues coach Mike Yeo said. "He's doing a great job."
St. Louis took a 1-0 lead 4:38 into the second period when Barbashev got to a loose puck outside the Montreal blue line and beat Price with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle.
"I honestly got a little lucky out there," Barbashev said. "The puck bounced right on my stick on the red line, but I just used the defenseman as a screen. I guess [Price] just didn't see it."
Berglund's power-play goal at 5:14 of the third period made it 2-0. He picked up the rebound of Tage Thompson's wrist shot from the right circle and beat Price for the Blues' fifth power-play goal in 12 attempts in the past four games.
"A very easy goal," Berglund said. "[Thompson] made a good play, a good shot. My route just kind of took me right into the slot there. The puck just found my stick."
Steen's empty-net shorthanded goal with 2:17 remaining made it 3-0. Hudon ended Hutton's shutout by scoring a power-play goal with 1:07 remaining.

Goal of the game

Barbashev's goal at 4:38 of the first period.

Save of the game

Hutton's save on Artturi Lehkonen at 8:45 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Berglund's goal at 5:14 of the third period.

They said it

"We're not looking for moral victories, we're looking for points. Really, what we need are answers among ourselves about how to win hockey games." -- Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty
"He's been playing unbelievable. Obviously we wish to get him some better starts so he doesn't have to work his [tail] off, but we need good goaltending to win games, and right now, he's bringing it." -- Blues center Patrik Berglund on Carter Hutton
"I think if you look at this year, the number of scoring chances we have and the amount of goals scored, it's below norm, and that's been the story of our season so far. We've just got to score and find ways and I guess finish off better than we have since the start." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien
"That's a team that plays with a lot of pace and they play a fast game, they play a hard-working game. ... I definitely would have liked to see us have a shooter's mindset to start a hockey game, but then obviously we found a way to get to another level there, and then from there, we were good." -- Blues coach Mike Yeo

Need to know

Canadiens center Paul Byron went headfirst into the boards with 2:34 remaining in the third period but skated off. Julien said he didn't believe it was serious and will have an update Wednesday. ... Berglund's goal was St. Louis' first against Montreal in 35 power-play chances dating to Jan. 20, 2010.

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What's next

Canadiens: At the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; FS-SE, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)
Blues: At the Boston Bruins on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, TVA Sports, NESN, FS-MW, NHL.TV)