BUFFALO • It was purely coincidental that Jake Allen came out with a new look Thursday in Boston — new white pads, newly-designed helmet. New everything really. But as symbolically appealing as it might sound, it had nothing to do with making a fresh start or anything like that.
“I switch it up once every year,” Allen said. “That’s my thing. I think ever since I’ve been here and ever since I’ve been a pro, I switch once a year, and it was time. So I had these in progress at the start of the year. It was just time to change.”
Allen has been wearing the new gear in practice. He just had to wait a while between assignments to start a game with them. After all, it had been a while — Jan. 9 against Florida to be exact — since Allen last led the Blues out on the ice prior to Thursday in Boston.
Not exactly the easiest way to jump back in the (frozen) water, because the Bruins are one of the NHL’s elite teams this season and all but unbeatable lately. None of which mattered to Allen, who like a laid-off tradesman, just wanted the work. Any kind of work.
“I was just looking forward to any start,” he said. “It’s tough to get in there right now. I need to win my job back, you know what I mean? I thought I played an honest hard game. We didn’t come up with a good enough effort.”
Allen made those remarks after the Blues’ 3-1 loss to Boston. He turned aside 43 of 45 shots against the Bruins, with shot No. 46 an empty-net goal by former Blue David Backes with less than a second remaining.
Allen’s 43 saves were the second-highest total of his NHL career and the most for a Blues goalie in Boston since Jim Hrivnak made 46 saves on Oct. 30, 1993 in the old Boston Garden.
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As for the two shots that got past Allen, one was that disputed first-period goal by David Krejci that the Blues unsuccessfully challenged as goaltender’s interference. The second was by Patrice Bergeron, left alone in the right faceoff circle on a power play, a screamer that not many goalies in the world would have stopped.
“I think he absolutely rose to the occasion,” coach Mike Yeo said. “He looked very confident. He looked very athletic. He looked like, you know — Jake Allen — the guy that we would expect him to look like.
“Sitting here very disappointed and obviously very upset that we lost the hockey game. But for me that’ll be the biggest thing that I take out of the game, that I’m happy for Jake.”
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Yeo made those remarks shortly after the game. After sleeping on it, and reviewing the game, he didn’t changed his mind. “Still pleased with his effort in the game,” Yeo said following Friday afternoon practice in Buffalo. “So that’s a positive. I hope that that’s a game in his eyes that he can build off of.
“Going into the game I felt confident with him. If we put a player in the lineup, I go into every game expecting that player’s best game. Jake’s no different in that. I know what Jake’s best games look like.”
And Thursday, obviously, had that look to it, particularly in a scoreless second period in which Allen kept the Blues in the game by stopping 22 shots. Even so, he wasn’t totally satisfied with his performance.
“I played well, gave the boys a chance,” he said. “But still, I gotta find a way to win games. Even if it’s 1-0. If I gotta stop all 45 shots, I gotta stop ’em all. That’s the way it is to get back in the net right now.”
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That’s because understudy Carter Hutton has been playing so well, as well or better than any goalie in the league. Prior to Allen’s start in Boston, Hutton had started 10 of the Blues’ previous 12 games and gone 8-1-1 in those contests with a 1.72 goal-against average and a save percentage of .942.
Stellar numbers to be sure, and numbers that made it a tough three weeks for Allen, even though he’s happy for Hutton. “I just worked my (butt) off in practice every single day,” Allen said. “Some days are frustrating not getting in the net. But Hutts is the best goalie in the league this year. And he’s more deserving than anyone to be in that net. So I’m very appreciative of that, but at the same time, I wanted to get back in there and get things going again.”
During the stretch of inactivity, it was not uncommon to see Allen on the ice 20 minutes or so before practice working with goaltending coach David Alexander.
“Just making sure I was ready,” he said. “I never knew when my chance was going to be. ... It’s all about points right now, and Hutts was getting us points, so that’s why he’s in the net.”
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Allen said he was informed during last weekend’s All-Star break that he would get the start against Boston, so he had the better part of a week to prepare mentally and physically .
As for his next start, could it be Saturday against a struggling Buffalo team (14-28-9) that ranks last in scoring and next-to-last in the overall standings with 37 points? Or will Yeo go back to Hutton?
“We’ll talk about that tomorrow,” Yeo said Friday.
Allen may want his job back, but Hutton doesn’t want to give up the net. As for Yeo, with his team about to enter the stretch run of what’s shaping up as a difficult playoff push, he needs points. Any way he can get them.
