St Louis: Montreal kept ahead in the close race for top place in the NHL Eastern Conference by winning 5-2 at St Louis on Tuesday, as goaltender Carey Price set a franchise record winning streak for the Canadiens.
The defeat saw St Louis slide nine points behind Central Division leaders Nashville, who had a comfortable home win over Colorado.
The Canadiens have won nine of ten and remained a point ahead of the New York Islanders, who overran Arizona. The New York Rangers also kept up the pace with a tight win over Calgary, while on the other side of the country Los Angeles extended their winning streak to eight by beating Detroit.
Montreal’s Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher had two goals apiece while Price won his ninth straight road game, breaking the franchise record he had shared with Rogie Vachon, who set it 46 years ago.
David Backes and T.J. Oshie scored for the Blues, who conceded the first goal in eight consecutive home games.
Nashville padded their lead atop the league standings to six points by defeating Colorado 5-2.
Calle Jarnkrok, Craig Smith, Roman Josi and Filip Forsberg scored for the Predators, who clinched the season series against the Avalanche.
