from Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

The Blues don’t seem to be a team that’s getting a lot of breaks lately, but maybe there was one on Monday when Brian Elliott got injured: He didn’t join the team’s long list of injured players until Jake Allen was fully recovered from his injury and ready to step in and replace him. Thank goodness, the Blues could be allowed to say, for very small mercies.

“For the one time, we have fortunate timing on injuries,” defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said Wednesday, “where we get Jake back at the perfect time for him to come and step in for Brian.”

Just as the Blues handed the keys to the crease over to Elliott when Allen got hurt in January, the Blues’ goal now belongs to Allen. Elliott reeled off 18 straight starts after Allen got hurt, and Allen could see a similar run as the Blues enter their stretch drive. If Elliott’s recovery goes as scheduled, he likely will miss 11 or 12 games, and Allen looks to be in goal for all of them if he can.

“We don’t have a choice right now,” coach Ken Hitchcock said. “He’s our guy.”...

The Blues’ backup now is Pheonix Copley, whom they acquired in the T.J. Oshie trade. He’s yet to play in a game but Hitchcock said he’s ready.

“If something happens and Cop’s got to go in,” Hitchcock said, “he’ll play well.”

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