St. Louis Blues Hope to Get Jake Allen a Win Against Carolina Hurricanes
The Blues will hope to get Jake Allen his first win since December 29 as they face the Carolina Hurricanes in a Sunday afternoon matchup.
After a deflating 5-0 loss on Saturday to the Nashville Predators, who they were previously undefeated against this season, the St. Louis Blues will attempt to turn things around for the second half of a road back-to-back and go to battle with the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon. The Blues last met the Hurricanes on January 14, when Carolina defeated an injury-riddled Blues team by a score of 4-1.
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The Blues will once again be attempting to pick up a win for Jake Allen, who is 0-5-2 in his last seven games played after going 18-8-1 in his first 29. Things haven’t been pretty since Allen took over again between the pipes, and though the absence of Alex Pietrangelo, Alexander Steen, and most recently Jori Lehtera have hurt the Blues, it’s fair to question whether the skaters up front just perform better when Brian Elliott, who won 12 of 17 and his last five before getting injured on Monday, is in net. It’s fair to argue that Saturday’s performance was Allen’s worst of 2015-16, as he gave up four goals on 23 shots, including three at even strength, and he was pulled with roughly 25 minutes remaining in the contest.
They’ll be contending with a Hurricanes team that has lost two straight and three of its past four, so Sunday could be a good opportunity for the Blues to get back on track. Carolina currently sits in seventh place in the Metropolitan Division but isn’t too terribly far out of playoff contention with 66 points though 63 games, so it should be interesting to see if management throws in the towel and trades longtime impact contributors like Eric Staal and Cam Ward, or if they try to hang on to diminishing playoff hopes.
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There won’t be a whole lot of lineup drama as the Blues head into Raleigh on Sunday. Alex Pietrangelo will re-enter the lineup for the first time since February 6, and he’ll presumably replace Robert Bortuzzo, who played through an illness on Saturday and was able to post an even rating in 15:37 of ice time. If center Jori Lehtera remains out on Sunday after missing Saturday’s game, which is the expectation considering that he’ll have no opportunity to test his health in practice or a morning skate, the Blues will suit up all 12 of their healthy, eligible forwards, as Ryan Reaves will also be out while serving the third and final game of his suspension.
There’s a minute possibility that Ken Hitchcock could give new acquisition Anders Nilsson an opportunity between the pipes in his first game wearing a Blues uniform, but the expectation is that Jake Allen will get a second start, particularly due to the fact that he exited Saturday’s game early and was relieved by the since-demoted Pheonix Copley.
Next: Blues Acquire Anders Nilsson from Oilers
Here’s how Sunday’s lineup is expected to look:
Jaden Schwartz–Patrik Berglund-Vladimir Tarasenko
Magnus Paajarvi–David Backes–Dmitrij Jaskin
Robby Fabbri–Paul Stastny–Troy Brouwer
Scottie Upshall–Kyle Brodziak–Ty Rattie
Jay Bouwmeester–Alex Pietrangelo
Carl Gunnarsson–Colton Parayko