Young phenoms need a break occasionally and veteran former starters need work now and then. Hence, Jake Allen in goal Thursday night for the St. Louis Blues.
Jordan Binnington, last season's rookie goalie sensation, started the Blues' first three games of the season, winning two and losing the other in overtime. He'll sit out their fourth game as Allen gets his first start of the season when the Blues visit the Ottawa Senators.
Allen opened last season as the starter before giving way to Binnington, whose emergence in the second half of the season helped propel the Blues to their first Stanley Cup championship.
Allen finished the regular season primarily starting only in the front or back half of back-to-backs. He was 19-17-8 with a 2.83 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in 46 regular-season games.
Coverage of tonight's game begins at 6 p.m. with Blues Live pregame on FOX Sports Midwest and FOX Sports GO.
The rest of the projected lineup vs. the Senators:
FORWARDS
Schwartz - Schenn - Tarasenko
Blais - O'Reilly - Perron
Sanford - Bozak - Fabbri
Barbashev - Sundqvist - Steen
DEFENSEMEN
Faulk - Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester - Parayko
Dunn - Bortuzzo
