Jake Allen could have been arrested on Wednesday night; after all, he was robbing the Minnesota Wild left and right. The goaltender has been a polarizing figure for the St. Louis Blues for several seasons now. On Wednesday, however, he demonstrated that he could be part of a deeper playoff run than expected for his team. Thanks to a goal in the second period, the Blues won Game 1 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals on the road, 2-1.
Dominant in the crease
Seemingly every other minute, Allen was making a highlight-reel worthy save. Whether it was Mikael Granlund trying to knock in a rebound in the third period or Charlie Coyle taking approximately fourteen shots at him in a stretch of a few seconds, nothing was getting by the goalie.
He was diving, he was stretching out fully, he was sliding all over the ice - anything to keep the Blues in front of the Wild.
All in all, Allen made 51 saves on the night, which was a new career-high for him. It was also the most saves ever recorded against the Minnesota Wild. The goalie was a big part of his team's midseason turnaround to make the postseason in the first place, so it was fitting that he would emerge as the star during the first playoff game. He did give up a goal to Wild forward Zach Parise with 22.7 seconds remaining in regulation, pushing the game into overtime, but it wasn't enough to obscure the rest of the contributions that led to a Blues victory.
Up in the quarterfinals
The Blues were without some major contributors, who were scratched before the game. Paul Stastny, Robert Bortuzzo, and Nail Yakupov were all out. It didn't matter, though. Vladimir Sobotka scored following an Alexander Steen interception to take a 1-0 lead in the second period. Meanwhile, 23-year old defenseman Joel Edmundson proved to be the unexpected overtime hero, who scored just the second playoff goal of his young career in support of Allen.
The Wild fall into a precarious early hole following the loss. Their coach, Bruce Boudreau, has been to the playoffs in every full season of his coaching tenure but has only made it past the conference semifinals once. Additionally, Minnesota has only won a series opener twice, which may explain why they've only won four playoff series in franchise history. The team will have to get their ducks in order if they are to solve Allen and the St. Louis Blues at home on Friday night when they take the ice for Game 2 of the series.
