Blues at Canadiens
THE STORY: It may be next to impossible for Lars Eller to duplicate what he accomplished for the Montreal Canadiens late last week. But if he can, it's a safe bet he'd like to do it against his former team as the Canadiens host the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night. Eller was a one-man wrecking crew last Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets, scoring three of his career-best four goals in the third period of Montreal's 7-3 victory. That was two more goals than he scored in seven games with the Blues before he was dealt in the 2010 offseason in a trade that sent netminder Jaroslav Halak to Missouri. Montreal built on the momentum of that one-sided Winnipeg victory by defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 Saturday to win consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 10-13. The Blues completed a 3-0-0 homestand Saturday with a 4-0 blanking of the Colorado Avalanche.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Midwest, RDS, TSN Canadiens
ABOUT THE BLUES (24-12-5): While Halak hasn't exactly struggled this season, he's still finding playing time hard to come by thanks to the continued dominance of Brian Elliott. The former ninth-round draft pick continues to be the hottest goaltender in the league, keeping the Avalanche off the scoresheet Saturday for his career high-tying fifth shutout of the season. Despite the blanking, Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock says Halak will start Tuesday against his former team.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (16-18-7): Montreal forward Erik Cole has made Canadiens fans forget all about his slow start to the season. The free-agent acquisition had a sizzling December with nine goals in 14 games, and has a goal and two assists in two games so far in the new year. The big difference appears to be that Cole is making his shots count. He scored on just 6.5 percent of his attempts in October, but raised that to 10.6 percent in November before connecting on a whopping 20.9 percent in December.
OVERTIME:
1. The teams met just once last season, with the Blues prevailing 4-1 behind 27 saves from Halak. This is the first meeting between the clubs in Montreal since Jan. 20, 2010.
2. Halak has won just one of nine road starts so far this season (1-5-3).
3. Cole is still looking for his first career goal against St. Louis, having collected just three assists in 10 games.