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Montreal Canadiens (38-16-5) at St. Louis Blues (38-17-4), 8 p.m. (ET)

(SportsNetwork.com) - The St. Louis Blues will try to break even on a four- game homestand when they welcome the Montreal Canadiens for Tuesday's finale at Scottrade Center.

St. Louis entered this stay in the Gateway City on a three-game winning streak, but it has gone 1-2-0 at the start of the residency.

The lone victory of the homestand came Friday in a 5-1 rout of Boston. However, that win was sandwiched between a pair of regulation losses against Dallas and Pittsburgh.

The Blues, who sit in second place in the Central Division, dropped a 4-2 decision against the Penguins on Saturday. St. Louis fell behind 4-0 in the contest before scoring twice in the last 5:27 of regulation.

Dmitrij Jaskin and Ian Cole provided the late markers for the Blues. Brian Elliott made 25 stops in the setback, which dropped St. Louis to 22-7-2 as the host this season.

"I feel like the other teams are starting to get into playoff mode and I think we're a step behind," Blues forward T.J. Oshie said. "It's taking us too long."

Vladimir Tarasenko record two assists in the setback and has compiled three goals and three helpers over his last five games. The 23-year-old leads St. Louis with 31 goals and 59 points this season.

Jake Allen, who played junior hockey in Montreal, will get the start in net for the Blues on Tuesday. He faced the Canadiens for the first time in his career on Nov. 20 in Montreal and was saddled with the loss after giving up four goals on 30 shots.

Max Pacioretty scored twice in Montreal's 4-1 win over the Blues in November. The victory halted a five-game slide in the series for the Canadiens, who have lost four of their last six trips to St. Louis.

Pacioretty recorded his fourth two-goal game of the season in Montreal's most recent outing, helping the Canadiens pick up a 3-1 home win Saturday against Columbus. He scored twice in the first period to up his team-leading total in goals to 29.

"We got two early in the game but we knew we weren't going to take any chances on the defensive side. We tightened things up in the second and third," Pacioretty said.

Carey Price stopped 31 pucks for the win over the Blue Jackets, while Tomas Plekanec added a late tally for the Habs.

The victory halted a two-game slide and put Montreal atop the Atlantic Division with 81 points, one more than Tampa Bay. The Habs also lead the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Islanders by one point for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk was scratched from Saturday's game with a case of the flu, but is expected to play tonight when Montreal begins a two- game tour of St. Louis and Columbus.

The Canadiens, who are 17-9-1 as the guest this season, will visit the Blue Jackets on Thursday.

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