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It’s Allen versus Pavelec in a very interesting goaltending matchup

St. Louis Blues v New Jersey Devils

NEWARK, NJ - NOVEMBER 10: Jake Allen #34 of the St. Louis Blues stops a shot in the third period against the New Jersey Devils on November 10, 2015 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.The St. Louis Blues defeated the New Jersey Devils 2-0. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

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Tonight in St. Louis, Jake Allen will make his first start for the Blues in almost two weeks. He’s only seen three shots in between; those came Thursday after Carter Hutton was pulled in a 5-1 loss to Minnesota.

Allen, whose save percentage has fallen all the way to .897 on the season, hasn’t won a game since the Winter Classic on Jan. 2. He was even left at home for a road trip in order to get reset mentally, in the wake of three starts that all ended with him on the bench.

“I’m ready to go,” Allen said yesterday, per the Post-Dispatch. “I’m looking forward to it. It’s felt like a decade, to be honest. I think the break did well for a lot of us and we have a really condensed schedule coming up and a lot of big hockey to play.”

The Blues’ opponent tonight has had its own goaltending issues. Ondrej Pavelec will start for the Winnipeg Jets, even though Connor Hellebuyck helped send the team into the All-Star break on a winning note with a 38-save performance Thursday in Chicago.

Pavelec is 2-2-0 with an .894 save percentage since being recalled from the AHL. He allowed four goals on just 26 shots in Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to the Sharks at MTS Centre.

“(Pavelec) has really good numbers against St. Louis,” Maurice told reporters, per the Winnipeg Sun. “The San Jose game, I didn’t think he had much of a chance on the two backdoor (goals, from Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau) and the penalty shot (from Melker Karlsson). I like where his game is at.”

The Jets are starting a three-game road trip tonight. They also play Thursday in Dallas and Saturday in Colorado. Three points back of the second wild-card spot, and holding no games in hand, Winnipeg really needs to start stringing some wins together. A win over the Blues, currently in the first wild-card spot, would be a great start to the stretch drive.