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Goalie nods: Allen will get his third straight start

Jake Allen, Carl Gunnarsson, Scottie Upshall, Kyle Brodziak

Jake Allen, Carl Gunnarsson, Scottie Upshall, Kyle Brodziak

AP

After the St. Louis Blues play in their 11th game of the season tonight, Jake Allen will have started in one more game than Brian Elliott.

That has less to do with Elliott’s play and more with the strong performance of Allen as of late. The 25-year-old goaltender shutout Tampa Bay on Tuesday and held Anaheim to a single goal Thursday night. That’s earned him a third straight start against the Minnesota Wild.

It will be interesting to see how long Blues coach Ken Hitchcock is willing to ride the hot hand if Allen has another strong start tonight, although there’s an obvious end point in the near future. St. Louis will play Los Angeles on Tuesday and Chicago Wednesday night, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the netminding duties get split for those two contests.

Elsewhere...

-- Jaroslav Halak will play for the Islanders against New Jersey’s Cory Schneider, who is making his eighth straight start.

-- There’s no confirmed starters for San Jose vs. Dallas, although there’s a fair chance it will end up being Martin Jones vs. Antti Niemi.

-- Jonathan Quick will probably play between the pipes for Los Angeles and while nothing is certain yet, it obviously wouldn’t be surprising if the Nashville Predators go with Pekka Rinne.

-- Maple Leafs netminder Jonathan Bernier’s strong game against the New York Rangers last night will lead to him making a second start in as many days. Pittsburgh will probably start Marc-Andre Fleury after giving him the night off on Thursday.

-- Detroit and Ottawa will be playing in the second half of a home-and-home series tonight with the two netminders that rested Friday getting the nod tonight. In other words, Petr Mrazek will face Craig Anderson.

-- We might see Jonas Gustavsson in net tonight for Boston as Tuukka Rask played yesterday. Tampa Bay will probably start Ben Bishop.

-- Washington’s Philipp Grubauer will make his second start of the season tonight. He’ll likely be countered by Panthers goalie Al Montoya, given that Roberto Luongo played last night.

-- Winnipeg will start Ondrej Pavelec against Columbus tonight. The Blue Jackets used Sergei Bobrovsky last night, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Curtis McElhinney start against the Jets.

-- Karri Ramo will get the nod tonight for Calgary after Joni Ortio played in a 6-2 loss to Montreal last night. This will be Ramo’s first start in the NHL since his stint in the minors. Edmonton will probably go with Cam Talbot.