MONTREAL, Quebec — Before the third period was halfway old, the churchgoers at the cathedral of hockey started to have some fun.

During a 5-2 St. Louis Blues loss to the Canadiens on Saturday night at Bell Centre, the always rambunctious, seldom silent devotees in Montreal serenaded the visitors with chants of "Ole, Ole, Ole." When Cole Caufield lit the lamp to put the Canadiens back in front by two goals, they started the wave to circulate around the steep lower bowl.

The Blues had given Canadiens fans something to cheer about. The Canadiens entered the game having lost four straight games, and two weeks removed from their last win. They also hadn't scored four goals in a game in a fortnight.

But Montreal scored the first two goals of the game, and the last three goals, to drop the Blues to 5-4-0 this season, allowing the Habs fans to repeat their "Ole" chorus as the game wound down.

Colton Parayko and Jake Neighbours scored for the Blues, and Jordan Binnington made 21 saves.

The Blues are halfway through their four-game trip, with contests Tuesday in Ottawa and Thursday in Philadelphia remaining.

Caufield scored 5:19 into the third period to give Montreal a 4-2 lead, sniping home a shot after a turnover by Oskar Sundqvist. It was Caufield's seventh goal of the season.

Responding quickly

The teams combined for three goals in the first 4:02 of the second period, leading to a 2-2 game after the Canadiens took a 2-0 lead just 72 seconds into the second.

Kirby Dach scored his first goal of the season when he swatted at a loose puck in the slot, giving Montreal a two-goal lead early in the second period and tallying a rare goal against the defensive pairing of Philip Broberg and Justin Faulk. Before Saturday night, Broberg-Faulk had been on the ice for just one goal against at 5 on 5.

The Blues responded 21 seconds later with Colton Parayko stabbing home a rebound at the net front, an unfamiliar position for a defenseman. As Zack Bolduc circled in the offensive zone and handed the puck off to Ryan Suter on the left wing, Parayko cut towards the back post. Suter’s pass got there, and after a few attempts (including a subtle kick to his stick), Parayko scored his first goal of the season.

At 4:02 of the second period, Jake Neighbours made it a new game with his fourth goal in the last five games. Neighbours parked himself on the edge of the crease after the puck jumped on Brayden Schenn as he tried to go backhand on a rush chance. Brandon Saad collected the puck behind the net, and fed an unbothered Neighbours to tie the game.

It was the third time in the opening nine games that the Blues erased a multi-goal deficit.

The Blues outshot the Canadiens 12-9 in the second period at 5 on 5, but put the Habs on the power play twice in the period. The second one — a high-sticking call on Scott Perunovich — quickly resulted in Alex Newhook’s goal that restored a Canadiens lead, at 3-2.

The power-play goal came two nights after the Blues went a perfect 4 for 4 on the kill in Toronto.

Newhook's goal came minutes after Binnington robbed Evans of a sure goal with a scrambling, lunging save to his right.

Behind early

The Blues fell behind 1-0 at 8:34 of the first period when Jake Evans took advantage of a 2-on-1 rush, whipping a shot past Binnington. Evans sped through the neutral zone with Michael Pezzatta following a fruitless Blues power play and as the result of four Blues players ending up below the dots in the offensive zone.

That left Perunovich alone to defend in transition. He took away the pass to Pezzetta. Evans took the shot that was offered to him.

While the first goal is often a fair indicator of who is going to win the game around the league, it hasn’t been that way with the Blues this season. In five of their first eight games of the season, the team that scored first ended up losing the game.

In the first period, the Blues were outshot 8-6, but more noticeably on the ice, they were outhit 12-5.

Arber Xhekaj leveled Neighbours on a Blues power play. David Savard took a shot at Saad. Josh Anderson hit Parayko in the neutral zone. Pezzetta’s boarding of Alexey Toropchenko led to the Blues power play in the first period.

Joel Armia added an empty-net goal with 3:11 remaining in the third period to put the game out of reach.

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