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Jake Allen, Blues push Wild to brink of elimination

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Jake Allen made 40 saves to lead the Blues to a 3-1 win over the Wild for a commanding 3-0 series lead.

It was the Jake Allen story once again for the St. Louis Blues on Sunday afternoon.

Thanks in large part to his 40-save effort in a 3-1 win, the Blues have opened up a commanding 3-0 series lead in their Western Conference first-round series, pushing the Minnesota Wild to the brink of elimination.

The Blues received goals from Colton Parayko, Jaden Schwartz, and Alexander Steen in the win, but this was once again about the play of Allen in net.
Watch Blues vs. Wild: Game 4 at 9:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, NBC Sports app

That is a pretty massive development given how much of a question mark the Blues’ goaltending situation was for much of the season as Allen and Carter Hutton both struggled to solidify the position.

The position is not much of a question mark at the moment.

Through the first three games of the season Allen has turned aside 114 of the 117 shots he has faced in the series. His play right now is a continuation of what he did over the second half of the season as his play started to turn around at the start of February. Including these first three playoff games Allen now owns a .943 save percentage in his 28 appearances since February 1.

It is no coincidence that the Blues have gone 25-7-1 (including the playoffs) during that stretch.

As for the Wild, well, this has to be a frustrating position to be in.

They haven’t necessarily played bad in this series, averaging 39 shots on goal per game and having an opportunity to take each game. They just have absolutely nothing to show for it, and now they need to win four games in a row.