Excerpt from 'Habs Hockey Report' of host Amy Johnson commenting on the news that NHL players will be eligible to participate in the 2026 and 2030 Olympic Games. GAME RECAP | MONTREAL CANADIENS 2 VS ST. LOUIS BLUES 7 | FINAL St. Louis Blues defeated the Montreal Canadiens 7-2. [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA0MzA5ODIwMTgwODAwNjE4/canadiens-final-score-20.png] St. Louis Blues defeated the Montreal Canadiens 7-2. CANADIENS LINEUP Forwards 22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky 70 Tanner Pearson - 71 Jake Evans - 17 Josh Anderson 89 Joshua Roy - 15 Alex Newhook - 40 Joel Armia 55 Michael Pezzetta - 74 Brandon Gignac - 56 Jesse Ylonen Defensemen 8 Mike Matheson - 21 Kaiden Guhle 47 Jayden Struble - 58 David Savard 54 Jordan Harris - 26 Johnathan Kovacevic Goaltenders Starter: 34 Jake Allen Alternate: 35 Sam Montembeault Out of the lineup Scratches: Arber Xhekaj, Cayden Primeau Suspension: Brendan Gallagher Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Christian Dvorak (upper body), Rafael Harvey-Pinard (lower body) GAME REPORT One thing is very clear: the Canadiens consistently play poorly in the second half of a back-to-back. Montreal has won just once in ten tries this season when playing on the second day of games on consecutive days. The Canadiens were not ready to play from the drop of the puck. Alexey Toropchenko cruised around Jayden Struble to open the scoring just 25 seconds into the contest. Less than five minutes later, Colton Parayko out the Blues up by two goals with Brayden Schenn providing a screen. Montreal was gifted an opportunity to get back into the game with a five-minute power play. They managed just two shots on goal in five minutes. But with the Blues failing to put a player in the penalty box, the 5-on-4 advantage continued, as Nick Suzuki scored his 17th goal of the season. With an assist, Juraj Slafkovsky extended his point streak to five games. The other member of the top line, Cole Caufield, saw his points streak end at 11 games. The Canadiens received a five-minute advantage as Sammy Blais was ejected for boarding. Jordan Harris awkwardly fell into the glass behind the Canadiens net with the back of his head hitting the ice. Harris was helped to the dressing room and did not return to the game. It was a penalty-filled affair with a total of 67 minutes between the two teams. St. Louis feasted on a weak Canadiens penalty kill converting three of five opportunities. Montreal was 0-for-4 with the man advantage. It was a difficult game for most of the Canadiens skaters. Rookie defenseman Jayden Struble was culpable on the Blues first goal and was in the box for their third goal. Josh Anderson had a minus-4 rating. GAME STATISTICS Canadiens (21-23-8) Shots: 32 Face-off %: 54.0 Power play: 0/4 Penalty minutes: 29 Hits: 20 Blocks:9 Blues (28-21-2) Shots: 36 Face-off %: 46.0 Power play: 3/5 Penalty minutes: 38 Hits: 11 Blocks: 17 SCORING SUMMARY Canadiens Scorers 1st period: Suzuki (17) 2nd period: -- 3rd period: Armia (9) OT: -- SO: -- Blues Scorers 1st period: Toropchenko (8), Schenn (14), Kyrou (16)-PPG 2nd period: Walker (4) 3rd period: Thomas (18)-PPG, Neighbours (18)-PPG, Kyrou (17) OT: -- SO: -- Goaltenders MTL: Allen (L) 5-10-3 STL: Binnington (W) 18-13-2 CANADIENS PLAYER OF THE GAME Joel Armia - Armia scored his ninth goal of the season and led Canadiens forwards with four shots on goal and co-led the team with three hits. VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aGHjRaSDPM[/embed] POST-GAME QUOTES Martin St. Louis "Sometimes you forget how young [the defensemen] are especially at that position. It's a hard position to play in this league at a young age. They're going to have tough shifts, they're going to have bad games, but it's very promising what we have in that department." Jayden Struble "I tried to play hard, make the simple plays and get back into it somehow (after the mistake on the opening shift.) Then I took a penalty, that didn't help. They scored two seconds in (to the power play.) Tough one for me, for sure." UP NEXT Following the game, the Canadiens announced that Kaiden Guhle's injury was being evaluated, Jordan Harris' status is day-to-day and that Rafael Harvey-Pinard will be out four to six weeks. Montreal will host the Anaheim Ducks at the Bell Centre on Tuesday. Be sure to bookmark THN.com/Montreal [https://thn.com/montreal] for year-round coverage of the Montreal Canadiens, Laval Rocket, and Habs prospects playing in leagues around the world. Gretzky Signature Series [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjAxNzAzMjM2NzQxMTEzNjIw/gretzky-northland.jpg] Gretzky Signature Series
