Jake Allen took no offense when the St. Louis Blues weren't too worried about Brian Elliott stepping in as the No. 1 goaltender following Allen's injury last month.
Pretty soon they'll have both of them.
Allen's return is imminent, although it's unclear if he'll be ready to play Tuesday night as the Blues host surging Dallas looking to tighten the Central Division race by beating the Stars for the third time in four meetings this season.
Elliott has gone 9-3-2 with a 1.72 goals-against average since Allen went down with a lower-body injury Jan. 8, improving his season GAA to 2.07 over 30 appearances. He also has a league-leading .933 save percentage, besting Allen's marks of 2.17 and .924.
Allen has been skating with the team and could return any day. Elliott, though, was in net for a two-game trip to the Sunshine State, making 30 saves in Friday's 5-3 win over Florida before stopping 37 shots in Sunday's 2-1 win over Tampa Bay.
The Blues (32-17-9), who are among the stingiest teams in the league with 2.31 goals allowed per game, have gone 3-0-1 since dropping three of their previous four. They trail Central co-leaders Dallas (37-15-5) and Chicago by six points.
"From the start of the year, both our goalies didn't surprise anyone," said rookie center Robby Fabbri, who has scored in the last two and also has three assists during a four-game point streak. "We knew how good they were. They've kept us in games. They've won us games."
St. Louis also has gotten a boost from the return of Jaden Schwartz, who had a goal and an assist against the Panthers in his first game since missing the previous 49 with a fractured left ankle.
Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo has been out the last three with a right knee injury, but he's been skating with the club and also could return soon.
"This defense has really rallied around missing (Pietrangelo)," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "It looks like we found some rhythm. We're starting to really play well and we have to keep playing well."
The Stars also have been hot lately and won their fourth straight Monday when Mattias Janmark scored 3:49 into overtime of a 3-2 victory over Nashville that began a three-game trip. They've won five straight away from home following an 0-5-3 road stretch Dec. 26-Jan. 19.
Cody Eakin and Ales Hemsky also scored for Dallas, which has won seven of its last eight -- the only loss coming at Chicago on Thursday -- to tie the Blackhawks atop the division with three games in hand.
"We wanted to keep rolling," coach Lindy Ruff said. "I thought it was a heck of a hockey game. It was who was going to finish or which goalie was going to give in a little bit, and neither one wanted to give in."
The Stars have had some trouble against St. Louis, though. The Blues won the first meeting 3-0 on Dec. 12 behind Allen's 26 saves. St. Louis won a nine-round shootout for a 3-2 victory Dec. 26 with Allen in net, but Elliott's 33 saves weren't enough in Dallas' 3-0 home win the following night that ended a four-game skid in the series.
Antti Niemi was in net for both defeats, while Kari Lehtonen picked up his only shutout of the season with 22 saves in the previous meeting. Lehtonen could get the start in this one after Niemi stopped 24 shots Monday.
