More injuries for the St. Louis Blues -- the club announced today that forward David Backes and goalie Jake Allen will miss the remainder of the regular season with lower-body injuries, and that both will be reevaluated prior to the playoffs.
The news about Allen would seem to ensure that Brian Elliott will be the Blues’ starting goalie for the first game of the playoffs. That is, assuming Elliott can stay healthy the rest of the way -- not a given the way things have gone for the Blues this season.
As for Backes, here’s what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had to say:
Backes was one of two players to have played in every game this season for the Blues (Troy Brouwer was the other), though he had an upper-body injury in January during which he played in games but never practiced. Backes is second on the club with 21 goals and fourth with 45 points overall. Backes had a goal and an assist on Sunday night against Colorado and was on the ice when the Blues clinched the game with an empty net goal with just under 3 minutes to play. He had 16:54 of ice time against Colorado and was credited with two blocked shots.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock is expected to address the media later today. The team is also dealing with injuries to Robby Fabbri, Jay Bouwmeester and Steve Ott.