Montreal Canadiens center Torrey Mitchell celebrates his goal against St. Louis Blues with teammates during the third period at Bell Centre. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

By Jeremy P. Rutherford/St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On the end of a long, successful road trip, the Blue couldn’t cool off Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday.
The Blues were blanked for the first time this season, 3-0, by Montreal at the Bell Centre, ending their four-game winning streak. They finished up their season-long, six-game road trip with a mark of 4-2.
Montreal, which ran its record to a franchise-best 7-0 start, remains the only unbeaten team in the NHL this season.
The crowd of 21,288 was treated to Price’s second shutout of the season, which was supported by goals from captain Max Pacioretty and Alexander Semin.
The Blues posted 38 shots on goal, including 17 in the first period, but couldn’t finish like the club that came into the game ranked No. 3 in the league in goals per game (3.50).
The visitors might have left disappointed with how the trip wrapped up Tuesday, but after some time to reflect will perhaps find some solace with their performance over the past 11 days.
The club will have time to do that, taking a few days off before returning to the ice Saturday, when it will host the New York Islanders at Scottrade Center.
The storyline going into a matchup of the top two teams in the league standings was that both teams were moving the puck well and neither was giving up much in its own zone.
That’s not exactly how it played out, though, as the Blues registered the most shots Montreal has seen this season. But the Blues couldn’t solve Price, or even get a break to go there way after appearing to score a goal in the second period that went in off the glass at the Bell Centre.
The Canadiens opened a 2-0 lead a pair of goals that were deflected past Allen just in front of him, giving him little time to react. The first came at the end of the first period, when a shot by Brendan Gallagher ricocheted off Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester and then was tipped by Pacioretty, putting the Habs on the board.
It came with 1:33 left in the period, and thus despite outshooting Montreal 17-10 in the frame, the Blues trailed 1-0 at the first intermission. Price, who was named as the NHL’s No. 1 star this week, was sensational in the period. He nonchalantly turned away David Backes from point-blank range about 7 { minutes into the game, and then about 30 seconds later, kicked out his right leg to keep Vladimir Tarasenko out of the net.
In the second period, Montreal added to its lead on Alexander Semin’s first goal as a member of the Canadiens. Semin spun at the top of the circle and, with Tarasenko standing in his shadow, hummed a shot on net that appeared to hit either Bouwmeester or former Blue Lars Eller before sneaking by Allen.
Midway through the game, the Blues had 26 shots on goal, which is what Montreal had been allowing on average per game this season. But Price continued to keep his cool, denying Steve Ott and Kyle Brodziak on a bang-bang sequence with about 8 { minutes left in the second period.
The only puck the Blues could put past Price Tuesday didn’t count. They went on the power play with 6:47 to play in the second period, and Bouwmeester dumped the puck into the offensive zone. Price wandered behind his goal to play where he thought the puck would sail, but instead it sailed directly into the net.
The Blues celebrated, but officials immediately waved off the goal because it hit the curved sheet of glass _ which is considered out of play _ near the Blues’ bench before going into the net. It is the glass that the NHL mandated to be in all arenas just a couple of years ago to avoid the danger of what amounted to a post that was in play.
There didn’t appear to be a review of the play, and it is not subject to a coaches’ challenge, but replays clearly showed that the puck did hit the curved part of the glass, and it even left behind a smear of the black rubber.
That’s the only mark the Blues would leave on the Canadiens, who picked up an insurance goal in the third period from Torrey Mitchell, as their early-season luster continued.