Blues' Jake Allen silenced critics and played the game of his life

By Pete Blackburn
Published

The St. Louis Blues stole Game 1 of their opening round series with an overtime win on the road against the Wild on Wednesday night. Jake Allen's ridiculous performance between the pipes was a big reason why.

The 26-year-old Blues goalie brought his A-game for the series opener, making a career-high 51 saves against the league's second-best offense in Minnesota. The Wild outplayed St. Louis and led in a bunch of statistical categories -- including shots, possession, face-offs, and hits. Minnesota actually doubled the Blues' shot output 52-26, but Allen stifled the Wild and kept them off the board nearly all night long.

Allen had an up-and-down year in St. Louis. After a rough start to the season in which he went 17-13-3 with an ugly .895 save-percentage, he turned it around following the firing of head coach Ken Hitchcock on February 1st. After Hitchcock's dismissal, Allen went 16-7-2 with a .938 save-percentage and three shutouts under Mike Yeo. The Blues had the league's lowest goals-against-average during that time.

But heading into Game 1, doubters -- including myself -- wondered if that stretch was possibly just a fluke. Allen's career playoff numbers before Wednesday hadn't been great. He had a .902 save-percentage in 12 career postseason appearances, so it was fair to wonder whether he'd be the same goalie that we saw in the second half of the regular season.

Then he went and had 51 saves in a playoff game. Whoops.

As good as Allen was, he did get a bit of help when the Wild's Zach Parise accidentally prevented a goal for his own team in the third period.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIgODQtRdRc

To Parise's credit, he was able to redeem himself by scoring Minnesota's only goal of the night minutes later. Allen's shutout was spoiled with about a half-minute left in regulation, but to no fault of his own. A fantastic set play by the Wild saw Mikko Koivu set up Parise with a gorgeous one-touch pass that left everyone in a St. Louis sweater moving in the wrong direction.

And even then, Allen nearly made the save.

https://gfycat.com/UnequaledJollyElephant

Despite the deflating late-game equalizer, the Blues would go on to win via a Joel Edmundson goal in OT. A massive overtime win on the road is not a bad way to start your playoff campaign, and it wouldn't have been possible without Allen.

Allen and the Blues still have plenty of work in front of them. But for the goalie in particular, this was a statement game. And a loud one at that.

 

It's only a one-game sample, but those doubts -- as well as a great Wild offense -- were silenced on Wednesday night.