Blues defeat Canadiens to spoil Allen's return to St. Louis

ST. LOUIS -- Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and an assist for the St. Louis Blues to spoil Jake Allen's return in a 4-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

Allen made 33 saves for the Canadiens in his first game in St. Louis since the Blues traded him to Montreal Sept. 2, 2020; he spent seven seasons with the Blues including winning the Stanley Cup in 2019 after being selected in the second round (no. 34) of the 2008 NHL Draft. Montreal (6-20-3) is 0-5-1 in its past six games.
"It's … been emotional, to be honest," Allen said. "I'm not an emotional guy very much, but I've been here since I was 17. I think every day since I left, I realize how great this place was for me, on and off the ice. Me and my family, so many friends. My best friends are still on that team, friends away from the rink. It's almost like a second home to me. It means a lot to be here."

Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves for the Blues (15-8-4). He played his first five NHL seasons with the Canadiens before signing as a free agent with the Blues on July 29 and is 3-0-0 with St. Louis.
"It's a big game for Charlie and he proved why he's a good goalie and why they made a mistake by letting him go," Blues forward Dakota Joshua said.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan O'Reilly and Logan Brown each had two assists for the Blues, who have won three in a row and seven straight at home.
"We talked about work and compete before the game and our skill will come through," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "I thought our guys pressured pucks hard, forechecked. We did a good job without the puck and forced them into bad puck plays and took advantage of it. I thought we did a good job of it. I thought we only gave up the one odd-man rush at the end of the first period. We kept them on the outside for the most of it and did a good job."
Buchnevich's goal at 1:03 of the first period gave the Blues a 1-0 lead on the first shot of the game; he has 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in his past 17 games.
"I think it was a broken play," Allen said. "I don't think what actually ensued on their end meant to go on their end. Buchnevich I think tried to slide it backdoor and I made a save and it went right back to him. I think it was just a weird, broken play."
Joshua's second NHL goal at 8:52 of the second period to make it 2-0, and Ivan Barbashev's power-play goal at 15:20 on a one-timer from the slot made it 3-0.
"I had to remind the guys that I could score with my stick, so that was nice," Joshua said. "It was a nice pass by 'Brownie' to slide that one over there and then I just made a move and was able to put it in."

Alexander Romanov scored at 1:57 of the third period to make it 3-1 off a giveaway by the Blues behind their net.
It was Montreal's first goal since Jonathan Drouin scored at 7:08 of the second period in a 3-2 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning last Tuesday, a stretch of 134:49.
"We came out pretty good in the third, had chances to get back in the game after we score the first one," Canadiens forward Joel Armia said. "We had chances after that too to score a goal, but it just didn't go in."
Torey Krug scored a power-play goal on a slap shot from the top of the left circle at 10:16 of the third for the 4-1 final.
NOTES:Allen was 148-94-26 with a 2.50 goals-against average, a .913 save percentage, and 21 shutouts with the Blues; he is second in Blues history in wins (Mike Liut, 151) and shutouts (Brian Elliott, 25). ... Armia played 16:37, had four hits and was a minus-1 in his return after missing two games with an undisclosed injury. ... The home winning streak for the Blues is their longest since winning nine straight from Dec. 12, 2019-Jan. 13, 2020. ... Blues forward Jordan Kyrou left the game late in the second period with an undisclosed injury and Berube said he will know more Sunday if Kyrou would be available to play against the Anaheim Ducks. ... The Blues were 2-for-3 on the power-play and are third in the NHL at 29.9 percent.