Hitchcock confirms Elliott is No.1 goalie
The St. Louis Blues were part of a big goaltending storyline heading into the playoffs last season with Ryan Miller, who they acquired at the deadline, struggling on a team that was a supposed to be a serious contender for the Stanley Cup.
The Blues ended up as a first-round exit.
This season, there is debate about who will start between the pipes as the postseason approaches for the Blues, with Jake Allen receiving the team's last two starts and playing well.
Head coach Ken Hitchcock put the debate to rest on Friday, confirming Brian Elliott is the team's starting goaltender.
"Ells is the starter," Hitchcock told Jeremy P. Rutherford of the St. Louis Dispatch. "Jake got rewarded for an exceptional performance (in a 2-1 overtime loss to Detroit Sunday). We'll go right back to Ells. He'll play the majority of games leading up to the playoffs. We're on the course that we set two months ago when we made the decision that Ells was going to be the guy and we're not changing that course."
The concern about Elliott made sense, as the netminder didn't look good against the Minnesota Wild on March 21, allowing four goals on 16 shots, but that doesn't worry Elliott, who is 6-3-1 in his last 10 decisions.
"The Minnesota game, you can't really hang your hat on those type of goals," Elliott said. "You've got to kind of just brush them off because you know those aren't going to happen all the time. (But) you do want to get back in there and feel pucks and make some saves and be the guy for the guys."
Elliott is slated to start Saturday against the Columbus Blues Jackets.