Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Blues Turn To Rookie Goaltender Jake Allen

03/06/2013 at 12:33pm EST

from Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

Less than an hour after Tuesday’s 6-4 loss to Los Angeles, in which the Blues gave away a 4-1 second-period lead, the team announced at 1 a.m. St. Louis time that it had recalled Allen from Peoria.

Jaroslav Halak allowed five goals on 21 shots and Brian Elliott one goal on eight shots against the Kings, sinking the Blues’ save-percentage (.870) to No. 24 in the NHL. The defeat dropped the club to ninth place in the Western Conference with 24 points after 22 games.

In a 48-game shortened season, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said that the team could ill-afford to wait any longer for the goaltending to improve, and so he turned to Allen, who went 3-1 with the Blues last month before being re-assigned to Peoria.

“I think it’s certainly a short season now, we’re in a very critical point and our goaltending to this point in the year hasn’t been to the standard that’s necessary to consistently win games,” Armstrong said. “Jake came up and played very well when he was here, and the team responded by playing very well in front of him.

“Ultimately we have faith in Brian and we have faith in Jaro, but we need to find success quickly in this type of season and I felt it was necessary to give Jake that opportunity.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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