BEST LINE: Pinnacle -½ +141

Posted at 1:10 PM EST

Regulation only. The Canadiens recently reeled off six wins in a row before losing to the Penguins in their last game 4-0. At the start of that six-game winning streak they outscored their first four opponents 14-3 but we’re seeing signs of things turning for the worse. Prior to losing 4-0 to Pittsburgh, Montreal defeated Philly and Detroit but the Flyers scored three times and outshot the Habs while Detroit outshot them 29-19. Montreal is a very impressive 14-6 but against top-10 teams they are just 2-5. Furthermore, many of the Habs’ earlier wins were the direct result of great goaltending and plenty of luck. The Canadiens rank 19th in shots allowed and they rank 18th in goals allowed in 5 on 5 play. This is a .500 team whose record will regress because all the numbers say so.

The Blue Notes are coming off a 2-0 loss in Boston. Had it not been for Tuukka Rask, St. Louis would have won 9-2. They played the entire game in Boston’s end and outshot the B’s 33-17. The Blue Notes have been outshot twice over their past 14 games. They’ve won 10 of their past 12 games and scored 14 goals over three games before getting stonewalled by Rask. The Blues will go with Jake Allen in net tonight. Allen is 5-1 overall with a save percentage of .933 (Carey Price’s save % is .914). It’s also worth noting that Allen played his junior hockey in Montreal and grew up there. No question he’ll be extra jacked up here and his teammates also know how important this game is for him. St. Louis rarely plays in Montreal. They’ve only played here three times since 2008. They have 12 Canadians on the team with three of those being from Quebec. A jacked-up and vastly superior St. Louis team figures to put forth an outstanding effort and outplay the Canadiens by a wide margin. That’s worth a bet.