ST. LOUIS -- The Blues are going to stick with the Carter Hutton train.
It's been an impressive one for the Blues' backup goaltender, who will make his third straight start when the Blues (25-15-2) take on the hottest team in the NHL, the Vegas Golden Knights (27-9-2) today at 7 p.m.
Hutton has helped the Blues win two straight games. He's coming off a 3-2 win over Carolina and on Tuesday, helping the Blues to a 3-2 win over New Jersey via shootout.
"I don't think it changes a whole lot," Hutton said. "I've always tried to be pretty confident in what I do and when I get in there, play hard. It's a little different getting some starts in the same week, but it's good. It's playing well and hoping to keep it rolling against a really good hockey team over there."
Hutton leads the NHL in goals-against average (1.70) and save percentage (.944).
"I think I've played pretty well since I've been here," Hutton said. "Not trying to pump my own tires or anything, but I think you look back at the end of last year and this year, I think I've found a lot of consistency here. David [Alexander] has helped me a lot and when Marty came in, he helped me a lot, too. I think me and Jake have a really good relationship, too, and I think working with Jake has helped me a lot too, the way he plays, I've learned a lot from him, too. It's been a good dynamic here for sure."
Blues coach Mike Yeo wants to keep riding the hot hand, and playing against a Vegas team that's win eight in a row and is on a 12-0-1 run shows the utmost respect and confidence going back to Hutton rather than go to Jake Allen, who is 1-6-0 his past six starts.
"I think he's forcing us to put him in," Yeo said of Hutton. "This is about 'Hutts' and the job he's doing, the performance that he's giving us night after night. Right now he's a competitor and he's winning games. He deserves to play again tonight."
Yeo has spoken with Allen, and feels the line of communication and the path the Blues have chosen here currently is fine for all involved.
With back-to-back games in Philadelphia on Saturday and Washington on Sunday, Allen will get one of those games.
"Jake's a competitor, Jake wants the net and wants to play, but again, I think it's pretty hard for anyone to argue that 'Hutts' doesn't deserve to get in again," Yeo said. "... It's just communication. For the majority of the season, 'Hutts' has had to serve as the backup. There's a lot of games where he's played very well and he understands that Jake is going to get back in the net in most cases and Jake is handling it fine right now, too. I don't think he could argue that 'Hutts' doesn't deserve this opportunity, so it's an opportunity for Jake to continue to work in practice and with back-to-back games this weekend, Jake will get back in and I'm sure he'll be ready for that.
"The reason we played Carter last game didn't have anything to do with Jake. It had everything to do with Carter. That message was relayed to Jake that 'Hutts' is playing well and he deserves that opportunity and we'll put him in."
"There's nothing wrong with a little bit of internal pressure and competition," Yeo added. "It's a long year and there's going to be times where one player's up, the next player's down, whatever the case is. There's times where both guys are right on top of it. I think that when we've been at our best this year, we've had internal competition from the forwards, from the defensemen to the goalies, everything. The idea is you have to come to the rink and you have to be on top of your game, your spot or your slot is not just anointed to you, (and) it's not a bad thing. Looking at our group when we've been at our best, it's when we've had probably some extra bodies up front, probably some extra bodies on D. Not that there's necessarily pressure, but there's certainly a reason for players to be coming to the rink and being prepared to be on top of their game."
Teammates feel fortunate that the Blues can turn to two goalies they believe in.
"Each night, we're getting that from each guy," Blues center Brayden Schennsaid. "They work so well together, they're close, they battle for one another, they're competitive and making sure they're better. Coming to St. Louis, I've played with Jake a little bit before, but when you play these guys only once or twice a year, you realize how good they actually are. It's not only how good they are, it's all the extra work that they put in. They want to get better and they're doing their off-ice stuff before practice and stuff. That's obviously gone a long way for them. When you see guys work that hard, it only makes you want to follow them."
"They've both been outstanding," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "I'm not sure what our goals-against is, but they've given us a good chance of winning every single night. I know that throughout the last little stretch there, we weren't scoring a lot, but with that being said, they were still giving us a chance to win with one or two goals against. It's impressive. Now it's kind of our turn to flick the switch and turn this around to them because they've put in their effort for us obviously. We've got to start helping them out and putting the puck in the net for them."
