MONTREAL -- Jaroslav Halaks return to the Bell Centre ended with a shutout and standing ovation. Pink Jason Witten Elite Jersey . The Slovak goaltender, who became the darling of the Montreal fans during a run to the NHL Eastern Conference final two seasons ago, made 19 saves as his St. Louis Blues blanked the Canadiens 3-0 on Tuesday night. After the game, his teamates pushed him out for a skate out to centre ice with his stick raised in salute to a few thousand fans who stayed after the final siren, some of them wearing their old Halak Canadiens jerseys. Then he did it all over again when he was named first star of the game. "Ill never forget this moment. It will stay with me forever," said Halak, who was playing in Montreal for the first time since he was traded to St. Louis after his heroics in the 2010 playoffs. "They told me to come out and enjoy the moment and it was really great. You dont know what was going to happen. But in this game it was really special and I want to thank the fans." Jason Arnott and David Backes scored in the second period and Chris Stewart added one in the third for the Blues (25-12-5), who posted a fourth win in a row. They ended a two-game road losing run and improved their record away from home to 8-9-3. The Blues kept pace with Chicago for first place in the Central Division, with a game in hand on the Blackhawks. They return to St. Louis for five games at home, where they are 17-3-2 this season. It was Halaks second shutout of the season, the 18th of his career and his first in Montreal since he got one for the Canadiens on April 3, 2010 against Buffalo. It may have been extra costly for Montreal (16-19-7) as captain Brian Gionta left early in the third period with what the team called an upper body injury. Gionta was in his second game back after an undisclosed injury. The game was billed as a showdown with Carey Price, the 2005 fifth-overall draft pick who the Canadiens elected to keep instead of Halak. But Price could not be faulted on any of the goals he allowed on 25 St. Louis shots as the Blues played flawless defence while the Canadiens had 21 giveaways. "They played the way they were scouted to play," said Price. "They had great back-pressure and they rallied around Jaro. "He played well and that was pretty much it. Im frustrated right now because of our position (in the standings), nothing else." Halak, who admitted to being nervous as the game started, had only two difficult saves to make, both when his team had a man advantage. Only three minutes into the game, Tomas Plekanec was sent in on a breakaway, but was stopped with a pad save. "I didnt know (what he would do)" said Halak. "I tried to keep my pad on the ice and I kept it out. "Especially early in the game, you dont want to have a breakaway against, but Im glad I stopped it. It calmed me down." During a third period power play, Halak was sprawled in his crease but managed to get a glove up to stop Mathieu Darches wrist shot from 10 feet out. "That was a Game 6, 2010 save," said Darche, referring to Halaks brilliant 53-save effort against Washington in the playoffs that year. The Blues have been one of the NHLs best defensive clubs since Ken Hitchcock replaced Davis Payne as coach in early November and it has benefitted both goalies Halak and Brian Elliott, who is tabbed to start Thursday at home against Vancouver. Halak, who began the season 1-6-0, is 7-0-3 in his last nine starts. It proved to much for Montreal (16-19-7), which lost for the first time in 2012 after a pair of home wins. "They took away our time and space and forced turnovers," said Randy Cunneyworth, now 3-7-0 since replacing Jacques Martin as coach. "Theyre very good at that." Neither goaltender was overly busy in a tight-checking affair with little sustained action at either end. It turned on two St. Louis counter attacks in the second frame. Ryan Reaves went around P.K. Subban and was stopped by Price, but Arnott was there to put in the rebound at 9:51. A Chris Stewart pass went off the side of the net to Backes for a goal on a low shot at 14:58 At 12:56 of the third, Backes stripped the puck from Alexei Emelin and fed Stewart for a shot into an open side. It was also a big game for centre Lars Eller, who was obtained in the Halak trade. The Dane was Montreals hardest-working forward, but couldnt find the net. A moment of silence was held before the game for Ron Caron, the former Montreal executive and Blues general manager who passed away on Monday. Halak faced Montreal late last season in St. Louis, earning a 4-1 win. Notes: Petteri Nokelainen and Yannick Weber were scratched for a second straight game by Montreal. . . . Evgeny Grachev and Chris Porter didnt dress for St.Louis. Black Dez Bryant Limited USA Jersey . - The Colorado Rapids say theyve received a first-round 2015 MLS SuperDraft pick, allocation money and a contract buyout from FC Dallas as compensation for coach Oscar Parejas leaving to take the same job with his former club. Camo Tony Romo Game Jersey .” – Mark Bloom (@markbloom21), on Twitter That one sentence sums it up, while at the same time, leaving so much out.PHILADELPHIA - Brett Lawrie is considered day-to-day with tightness in his right hamstring, an appropriate prognosis given that its the daily grind of baseball thats forcing him to take a seat. The hamstring cant heal if Lawries placing athletic demands on it every day. "Its the same as it has been," said Lawrie. "Ive been playing with this the past road trip since Kansas City and whatnot. I need to give it a little bit of time; I need to give it a couple of days. I tried to play with it and I can play with it, its just that Im not playing the way I would like to play." His leg didnt give out on him. Lawrie saw a doctor at Citizens Bank Park after leaving Mondays 3-0 win over the Phillies in the fourth inning. The hamstring needs a couple of days to, as Lawrie put it, "settle down." "We only have one off day this May and thats tough just to continuously go day after day after day on something like a hamstring," he said. "Theres no recovery time so I need some recovery time to allow it to get better. Id rather take a couple of days rather than do something really terrible and take myself out for a month and a half because obviously hamstrings are just nothing to mess around with." Lawrie has a history of muscle-related injuries, most notably his oblique problems which cost him time in each of the last two seasons. He sat out the second game of last weeks series in Kansas City with tightness in his back and often times, after games, hes essentially mummified in elastic bandages holding down ice on various parts of his body. Ive hit a point where I cant keep doing this every single day," said Lawrie. "In every game that Ive played in the last little bit it has been little things that have just grabbed on me and almost resets it a little bit and just kind of says this is how its going to be, its not better yet. That just says to me, as much as it sucks and I can play, I just cant do it the way that I want to … so Id rather take a couple of days rather than do something really bad." Lawrie went 0-2 on Monday before leaving the game. He had been heating up offensively after a slow start, having had a seven-game hitting streak snapped and with mmulti-hit efforts in seven of his last 11 games.White Terrance Williams Limited Youth Jersey. NAVARRO NEARING RETURN Dioner Navarro pinch hit in Sundays game against the Pirates and singled. To say he moved gingerly toward first base is an understatement. Navarro was being careful with his sore right quadriceps muscle. Dont read anything into the visual. "Probably if I hit a groundball somewhere I would have gone a little bit faster but I knew I wasnt going to get to second so might as well take an extra day, it felt like I didnt do anything (Sunday)," said Navarro. "It wasnt that bad. I know it looked bad on TV but it wasnt that bad. I knew the ball was over the third basemans head, the run scored, the guy was going to get to third." Navarro left Thursday nights game in the eighth inning after aggravating his quad running the bases. Hes had hamstring problems in the past but never an issue with his quads. "We did a whole bunch of stuff, squat stuff, mobility stuff, side-to-side stuff, backward, forward, it felt great," he said. The biggest test is when we go out there and start running and see how it feels." Navarro didnt rule out a return on Wednesday, when the Blue Jays play host to the Phillies. LIND GETTING CLOSE Adam Lind, rehabbing a sore back, went 3-5 with two doubles and two runs scored for Single-A Dunedin on Monday. Lind, who went on the disabled list on April 16, could be back as soon as Wednesday nights game against the Phillies in Toronto. JANSSEN TOSSES SCORELESS FRAME Casey Janssen pitched a scoreless inning, allowing two hits, in Double-A New Hampshires Monday night game against Binghamton. It marked Janssens first appearance in his second attempt at a rehabilitation assignment coming off a strained left oblique. Janssens return isnt imminent. Hell pitch in back to back games later this week and the plan, at the moment, is for Janssen to take as much time as he needs. Remember, not only has Janssen been mostly down since suffering the oblique injury at the end of March, stiffness in the back of his shoulder limited Janssen to just three spring training appearances. He hasnt thrown much and is still in the process of regaining strength in his pitching arm. Cheap Jerseys ' ' '