Blues' goaltending has drastically improved under Yeo, Brodeur
When Ken Hitchcock was let go as head coach of the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 1, much of the team's failures to that point in the season were pinned on poor goaltending, and for good reason.
Both starter Jake Allen and backup Carter Hutton struggled mightily to start the season, and goalie coach Jim Corsi was fired along with Hitchcock.
It's been a different story in St. Louis since Mike Yeo stepped in as bench boss, and assistant general manager Martin Brodeur took over as goalie coach.
In fact, it's been a complete 180.
The Blues had the worst save-percentage in the NHL (.887) when Yeo/Brodeur came in. Since then, it's No. 1 in the league (.951). #stlblues
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) March 9, 2017
Allen - who had essentially been put on leave at one point in order to clear his head - has drawn the lion's share of the starts, and while his record stands at 7-5-0 under Yeo, his .941 save percentage since Feb. 1 ranks second among all goalies with at least 10 starts over that span, behind only Ottawa's Craig Anderson (.944).
Hutton has been near perfect in the three starts he's made, recording two shutout wins and allowing a single goal in his only loss, good for a save percentage of .989 after stopping 88 of 89 shots.
With 17 games remaining on the schedule, the Blues hold the second wild-card spot, three points up on Los Angeles. Advancing to the postseason is anything but guaranteed at this point, meaning Allen and Hutton will need to bring more of the same in order to fully salvage an almost disastrous start.