St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen replaced Brian Elliott on Monday night after Elliott was forced to leave the game against the San Jose Sharks with an injury.
According to ESPN, Elliott was injured after Sharks forward Logan Couture scored a power-play goal in the first period, which resulted in a pile-up of bodies in front of the St. Louis net. Elliott attempted to make a save, and after that the St. Louis training staff came out to check on the goalie. Elliott left the ice and went into the locker room with an injury and did not return.
The team announced after the game that Elliott suffered a lower-body injury. Allen came into the game for Elliott and had 15 saves in the 6-3 loss. Allen had just been activated from injured reserve on Sunday after being out since January with a lower-body injury. According to CBS Sports, the team had not planned on playing Allen for a few more days since he had not played a game in over a month while dealing with the injury.
The Blues did not have much choice with Elliott injured, and now Allen could be in line to start on Thursday against the Rangers if Elliott can't play. The Blues are expected to evaluate Elliott Thursday, and CBS Sports reports that he is considered "day-to-day" with the injury. Allen missed 17 games while dealing with his injury. Before coming back on Monday, Allen had been 18-10-3 with a 2.17 goals-against average for the Blues.
"I haven't played in a month and a half," Allen said. "I got my feet wet. We got too far behind the eight ball to catch up."
Elliott started in place of Allen while he was out with an injury, and he helped the Blues go 12-3-2 during Allen's absence. The Blues are currently 35-18-9 on the season with 79 points, good for third place in the Central division standings.
