St. Louis Blues: 5 Players with Something to Prove After the All-Star Break
Jake Allen
Before Jake Allen went down with a knee injury on January 8, he had clearly established himself as the Blues’ starting goalie. He started 22 of 28 games from November 14 up until then, going 11-7-3 with two shutouts over that stretch. While the Blues stayed solid with Allen in net, even as a number of regulars in front of him dealt with injuries, they’ve returned to their early-season level of dominance with Brian Elliott in net over the past three weeks. Since Elliott temporarily regained the starting job on January 9, the Blues are 5-2-1, and Elliott has given up just 15 goals in eight games.
Despite that, Allen is expected to regain the full-time starting role upon his return. But since the Blues achieved a greater level of success during Elliott’s recent eight-game stretch than they’ve had since Allen’s early-season stretch of dominance, the pressure will definitely be on the 25-year-old Allen over the final 30 games. Allen, who has five shutouts in 31 starts this season, has definitely provided reason for hope that he can be the goalie who finally leads the Blues deep into the playoffs. If he’s even to get that opportunity, however, he’ll need to fight off “old reliable” Elliott and assert himself as the stronger option down the stretch.