Berglund's hat trick lifts Blues over Canadiens
MONTREAL -- Patrik Berglund scored a hat trick to lift the St. Louis Blues to a 4-2 victory against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.
Al Montoya stopped 18 shots for the Canadiens (31-18-8) while Jake Allen made 28 saves for St. Louis.
David Perron also scored for the Blues (29-22-5), who matched a season-high four-game winning streak.
Shea Weber and Max Pacioretty connected for Montreal, which hasn't won consecutive games since Jan. 7.
St. Louis was in control early, outshooting Montreal 5-1 through the first few minutes and opening the scoring for the fourth straight game.
Jaden Schwartz won a battle in the corner and got the puck out to Pietrangelo at the top of the right circle. Montoya slipped as the Blues captain took his shot and Berglund, in front of the net, tipped it home at 3:49.
It was the first non-shootout goal Montoya's given up at the Bell Centre this season,
Weber tied it with 3:21 remaining in the opening frame. Pacioretty came out with puck along the right wall and sent it back to Weber at the blue line, who fired a blast through sticks past Allen.
Perron restored St. Louis' lead on a nifty move at 7:20 of the second period. After taking a short backhand drop pass from Jori Lehtera, Perron kicked the puck up to his stick before shooting through Greg Pateryn's legs and beating Montoya five-hole.
A strong shift by Montreal's top line tied the game 5:35 later. Keeping the Blues hemmed in their end for several minutes, Pacioretty made the visitors pay when he redirected Nathan Beaulieu's shot from the left wall.
Berglund put the Blues back in front with 25 seconds left on the clock in the second, tipping in Jay Bouwmeester's point shot through traffic and capped off the hat trick with a goal into an empty net.
NOTES: C Tomas Plekanec played his 900th NHL game -- all with the Canadiens. ... LW Max Pacioretty was in the Montreal lineup after missing the morning skate because of illness, playing in his 139th consecutive game. ... St. Louis C Paul Stastny missed the game after suffering a lower-body injury against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night. ... The Blues are in the midst of playing 25 of their final 41 games on the road, with 21 of those between Jan. 12 and March 21. ... The Canadiens scratched C David Desharnais, C/W Brian Flynn and D Nikita Nesterov. ... St. Louis scratched RW Nail Yakupov and D Carl Gunnarsson.