St. Louis Blues Morning Links: Jake Allen And His Lucky Charms
By Todd Panula
Good morning Blues fans! Break out your coffee, your energy drinks or whatever you need. Shake off those cobwebs because your team is up.
The St. Louis Blues gave us agony and ecstasy all in one night and in the span of an hour or so. The Blues managed to pull off the upset in game one in rather unorthodox style.
For whatever reason, the Blues never seem to get off on the right foot in Game 1 in the first round. Last year, it was the same story.
The Blues won, but were badly outplayed. They were outshot 35-18 and only managed to win off a bad angle, deflected goal.
Sometimes you need to be lucky instead of good. That’s what happened against the Blackhawks.
History repeated itself when the Blues took on the Minnesota Wild. The Blues were only outshot by one in the first period, but it would never again be that close.
By the end of the game, Jake Allen had been shellacked with 52 shots and he turned away 51. You want your goaltender to get into the game early, but the Blues took that to disturbing heights.
Speaking of being lucky, but good as well, you need look no further than the Snake himself. Allen had a few ding off the post, some off the cuff of the glove and some actual defending as teammates cleared away the rare juicy rebound.
Jake would likely tell you himself that he was a bit fortunate at times. As a goaltender, those are the breaks you need to come up with these sorts of performances.
You take it and run. Get the hell out of Dodge as the old saying goes and don’t look back.
However, you cannot chalk it up to lucky only. Allen was on top of his game the entire night.
If we are going to discuss luck, then you cannot deny the Wild’s fortune to even tie the game up. They might have deserved to equalize, but the way it happened was very lucky.
They can say what they want, but there is no way that Mikko Koivu meant to tip that one where it went. It worked out though as Minnesota gave themselves a chance in overtime.
The Blues don’t have much room to talk since their own goal was a bit fortunate. Vladimir Sobotka got his second goal since returning on a slightly deflected puck that fooled the Minnesota netminder.
Back to the point though, there was not a whole lot about Allen’s performance that was pure luck. You need some good fortune on your side, but he was standing on his head.
The Blues have been on the opposite side of those performances so many times, it was amazing to see one of our own do it. Brian Elliott stole some games last year, but this game was something to behold.
Allen was not too flashy unless he needed to be. Even then, he was so nonchalant about everything, it was as though he knew where the puck would go every time.
As stated in our preview article, Allen was and is going to be a huge reason the Blues win if they do. If they can count on more performances like this, perhaps the offense can get the sputtering engine going.
The Blues will not be able to play this poorly going forward. Allen on his head or not, you need support to win and the Blues gave very little.
However, sometimes you need these wins when you don’t play your best.
Here are your St. Louis Blues Morning Links to get your day started off right.
The St. Louis Blues got the job done well enough, but Minnesota is clinging to the idea that if they play the same they’re going to get rewarded. However, Bruce Boudreau’s lack of playoff success may be the next question creeping in. (Fox Sports)
Whether you think of it as a good thing or being rushed, the Blues have had to use their AHL guys a lot this year. Due to more injuries down the stretch, that has afforded the kids more chances as the playoffs began and none of them were relegated to secondary roles with a pat on the back. (STLToday)
In case you missed it yesterday afternoon, we posted five reasons the Blues will win and five they won’t. As stated above, much of it proved to be true. (Bleedin’ Blue)
The Chicago Wolves roster is going to get rather crowded as they continue to add names to their team sheet before the regular season is done. Now, another future Blue and former Wolves player rejoined the squad. (Wolves)
Next: Blues Postseason Trophies Awarded
Normally losing your starting goaltender is a nightmare scenario in any case, but especially if it literally happens moments before the playoffs begin. No such trouble for Pittsburgh as they have a Stanley Cup winner on their bench. (NHL)
Despite the New York Islanders missing the playoffs, the team owners were impressed with the team’s surge under Doug Weight. However, the recently re-hired/promoted coach may have a new/old home. The Islanders might be moving back to the island as the Brooklyn experiment is not going well. (ESPN)
Have a great day Blues fans!