Goaltender Jake Allen will make his first start in more than six weeks when the St. Louis Blues host the New York Rangers on Thursday night. Allen, who has been sidelined since suffering a knee injury on Jan. 8, is returning just in time for St. Louis, which lost netminder Brian Elliott for at least four weeks in Monday's loss to the San Jose Sharks.
Photos: Jake Allen Pics
"With Brian going down, we're fortunate that we've got Jake back and vice versa when it happened to Jake," Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said. "We're in a good position and the best part is we know what we get out of both goalies every time." St. Louis also will be without forward Ryan Reaves, who received a three-game suspension for boarding San Jose’s Matt Tennyson.
The Rangers had been red hot before opening their three-game road trip with a 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. Captain Ryan McDonagh and fellow defenseman Marc Staal could both return to the lineup for New York, which is 7-2-1 in its last 10 games.
