from the Christmas break winners of four of their last six games.It is finally some traction for a team still seven points out of a playoff spot as the season nears the midway point.The Blues (14-16-4) hope to keep that momentum as they resume play by hosting the Buffalo Sabres (21-11-5) on Thursday night at Enterprise Center.Article continues below ...The game will be the first for Blues center Ryan O¡¯Reilly against his former club since a trade brought him to St. Louis over the summer. O¡¯Reilly¡¯s 13 goals and 32 points lead the team.¡°We were in so many of these games Adidas Scott Mayfield Jersey , had leads and lost them,¡± O¡¯Reilly said last month according to Buffalonews.com. ¡°We didn¡¯t have the consistency in games. Bad period here, blow a lead, couple bad shifts there. It wasn¡¯t the hockey we needed to win.¡±Forwards Ivan Barbashev and Oskar Sundqvist will also look to continue their strong play on the Blues¡¯ fourth line. Either Barbashev or Sundqvist have scored in five of the last nine games for St. Louis.¡°We pop Barbashev and Sundqvist up and down the lineup a little bit in different matchups and things, penalty killing,¡± Blues interim coach Craig Berube told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. ¡°They¡¯ve done a really good job. They¡¯re scoring goals here and there, which is good. You need everybody to chip in in the goal department.¡±The duo has been productive despite limited minutes. Barbashev averages 11 minutes, 19 seconds of ice time Adidas Dustin Tokarski Jersey , which ranks 21st on the team. Sundqvist is at 11:10, ranking 22nd.¡°Every single (shift) we just try to play really good defensively but at the same time we want to play in the (offensive) zone,¡± Barbashev told the Post-Dispatch. ¡°Just play a simple game, you know. Keep the puck. Get some energy. Sometimes maybe even try and score a goal.¡±The Blues have dominated the Sabres for the better part of two decades. Since 1999, St. Louis has a 17-3-4 record against Buffalo, including 9-1-2 in the last 12 meetings.The Sabres haven¡¯t beaten the Blues in St. Louis since Dec. 27, 2009.Perhaps the key to the Sabres¡¯ success would be extending the game. More than one-third of the team¡¯s games have gone to overtime or a shootout and Buffalo has an 8-5 record in those situations.¡°I love overtime. I¡¯m always looking to score,¡± Sabres defenseman Ramsus Ristolainen told Buffalonews.com. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of room and you have a chance to make big plays for your team.¡±The Sabres entered the break off of a 3-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.Left winger Jeff Skinner scored his team-leading 26th goal of the season and Linus Ullmark made 40 saves to earn the shutout.¡°It¡¯s an emotional game Adidas Robin Lehner Jersey ,¡± Skinner told NHL.com. ¡°Some games that¡¯s just the way it goes. A little bit of a feisty game, I guess, at the end of some of the periods but I thought we did a good job sticking together.¡± NEW YORK ¡ª The New York Islanders have established themselves as one of the surprise stories of the NHL by dominating within their division. Now the Islanders will look to see if they can carry that over to non-Metropolitan Division foes.The Islanders will look to extend the Eastern Conference¡¯s longest winning streak on Monday night, when they host the Montreal Canadiens at Barclays Center.Both teams were off Sunday after playing Saturday, when the Islanders won their fifth straight game by blanking the visiting New Jersey Devils, 3-0, and the host Canadiens fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-1.Article continues below ...All five wins by the Islanders (8-4-1) have come within the division. New York Adidas Leo Komarov Jersey , which is atop the Metropolitan Division, is 6-0-0 against the Metro, its best divisional start since it was 6-0-0 against the Patrick Division in 1982-83.While it¡¯s unlikely the Islanders will remain perfect within the division, the plethora of so-called ¡°four-point wins¡± has given them a little bit more margin for error going forward. New York, which was predicted by most to miss the playoffs following the free agent departure of star center John Tavares, has an 84.9 percent chance to reach the postseason, according to the playoff probability report issued Sunday by the hockey-reference.com website.¡°These are big points, especially early on Adidas Valtteri Filppula Jersey ,¡± said Islanders center Brock Nelson, who scored his team-high seventh goal Saturday night. ¡°Lind of stack as many as you can right away. To go 6-0 right away off the hop obviously is great for us.¡±The Canadiens (7-4-2) are also off to a surprising start after missing the playoffs in two of the previous three seasons, though Montreal has slowed a bit by alternating losses with wins in each of its last seven games.Things aren¡¯t likely to get any easier Monday for the Canadiens, who have scored one goal in each of their last two losses. Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss, who is likely to draw the start Monday, authored a shutout Saturday night, when he made 35 saves against the Devils, and has allowed just three goals on 79 shots in his last three appearances.¡°Every goalie that you face is in the NHL for a reason Adidas Dylan DeMelo Jersey ,¡± Canadiens left winger Max Domi told reporters Saturday after he scored the only goal against the Lightning¡¯s Andrei Vasilevskiy, who made 34 saves. ¡°They¡¯re going to do their job and try and stop the puck and we¡¯ve got to do our job and kind of break that. We weren¡¯t able to do that tonight.¡±Carey Price, who has made four straight starts, appears in line to start again Monday night in the opener of a back-to-back set in New York for the Canadiens. Montreal visits the Rangers on Tuesday night. Price took the loss Saturday after making 32 saves against the Lightning.Greiss is 3-3-0 in six career games against the Canadiens. Price is 11-5-4 in 20 appearances against the Islanders.