Wild vs. Blues: Game 4 is Jake Allen’s to lose in rare sweep opportunity

It’s Jake Allen’s world, and we’re all just living in it. At least, that’s what it feels like in this Western Conference series between the Wild and Blues.

Though Minnesota has outplayed St. Louis at almost every turn, the Blues have something the Wild haven’t had yet: stellar goaltending. Allen has turned this series on its head, quite the incredible feat for a goaltender who was shaky at best in the middle part of the season.

On Wednesday, the Blues have the rare chance to finish this series in a sweep. If Allen has his way, then St. Louis will be the first team to advance to the second round.

Allen has the Wild’s number. Much has been made of Nashville shutting down Chicago, but Allen has held Minnesota to one goal in each of the opening three games. The 28-year-old has made 117 saves on 120 shots and is singlehandedly undoing all the work the Wild did over the past year.

Minnesota’s offense. It’d be cheating to talk about Allen again, so we’ll have to settle for this. This game will hinge on if the Wild can finally, finally, get multiple goals past Allen. The Blues haven’t made many offensive statements so far in this series, as they’ve scored just seven total goals, and it will be up to Minnesota’s offense to break out of the slump.

Can the Blues weather the storm? Allen will have a tough enough job in goal, but the Wild will likely come out firing from everywhere. How the Blues’ defense reacts to Minnesota’s pressure will either make Allen’s life easier or a whole lot worse.

The Blues. Allen leads the Blues on to complete the sweep. He’s the hottest player in the entire playoffs, and it doesn’t seem the Wild have the answer for his voodoo.