St-Louis defeats Montreal 4-3.

The St-Louis Blues were visiting the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell centre yesterday evening. Despite being out of the playoff picture already, the Blues played a solid game to defeat the Habs.

For a second game in a row, head coach Guy Carbonneau have sent Jaroslav Halak in action. At his 9th start in career at home, Halak had never lost a game at the Bell centre before yesterday night and his performance versus the New York Islanders forced the coach to use him once again.

Halak did play a good game in general. His teammates in front of him were not really supportive, except during the third period. A great pass from Sergei Kostitsyn allowed Mikhal Grabovski to score the tying goal halfway into the third period.

Bard Boyes was the only player to score a goal during the shootout session, giving the victory to the Blues.

Montreal grabbed a point despite the ordinary performance. The team now totals 90 points this season, still in first place of the Northeast dvision. The Canadiens will now play the Boston Bruins twice.

Here is the standings of the Eastern conference with under 10 games to play in the regular season:

1	New Jersey Devils*	72	42	24		6	90	188	168
2	Montréal Canadiens*	74	40	24		10	90	233	204
3	Carolina Hurricanes*	74	39	30		5	83	225	229
4	Pittsburgh Penguins	73	41	25		7	89	222	201
5	Ottawa Senators	73	40	26		7	87	231	215
6	New York Rangers	73	38	26		9	85	193	179
7	Boston Bruins	73	37	27		9	83	189	202
8	Philadelphia Flyers	74	36	28		10	82	223	216
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9	Washington Capitals	74	36	30		8	80	216	215
10	Buffalo Sabres	73	34	28		11	79	227	214
11	Florida Panthers	74	35	31		8	78	200	205
12	Toronto Maple Leafs	74	33	31		10	76	208	228
13	New York Islanders	74	32	35		7	71	177	222
14	Atlanta Thrashers	75	31	36		8	70	198	249
15	Tampa Bay Lightning	72	29	35		8	66	203	230

* = Division leaders.

(Picture: Brad Boyes, Canadian Press.)