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Sports

Blues' Halak gets shutout in return to Montreal

Associated Press
Published | Updated

MONTREAL – Jaroslav Halak got the shutout in his first game back in Montreal and the St. Louis Blues extended their winning streak to four with a 3-0 victory over the Canadiens on Tuesday night.

David Backes and Chris Stewart each had a goal and an assist, and Jason Arnott also scored for St. Louis, which got a shutout from Brian Elliott in a 4-0 win at Colorado on Saturday night.

Halak, who was traded by Montreal to the Blues on June 10, 2010, made 19 saves for his second shutout of the season.

The Slovakian goalie denied former teammate Tomas Plekanec on a short-handed breakaway early in the first. He made a sprawling glove save on Mathieu Darche in the third. It was his 18th career shutout.

Carey Price stopped 22 shots for the Canadiens, who had won the first two games of their three-game homestand.

Price lost his starting job in 2009-10 to Halak, who led Montreal to playoff upsets that spring over Washington and Pittsburgh, the No. 1 seed and defending Stanley Cup champions, respectively.

The Canadiens elected to move forward with Price, the fifth overall pick in the 2005 draft, and Halak was dealt to St. Louis in return for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.

The two goalies faced each other for the first time in St. Louis on March 10. Halak made 27 saves in the Blues' 4-1 win.

Arnott opened the scoring midway through the second. The 37-year-old center scored for a second straight game 9:51 into the middle period when he drove in to pick up Ryan Reaves' rebound and reached around a sprawled Price for his 10th goal.

St. Louis took advantage of another rebound to go up by two at 14:58. Backes fired his 14th goal past Price, who stopped Stewart's initial shot from in close.

Stewart teamed up with Backes to score the Blues' third goal 12:56 into the third.

NOTES: Halak's previous game at the Bell Centre was a 3-0 loss to Philadelphia on May 22, 2010, in the fourth game of the Eastern Conference finals. ... Canadiens C Petteri Nokelainen was left out of the lineup for a second game in a row.