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Brian Elliott back in Blues' goal for Game 6 facing elimination

AP Photo/LM Otero
AP Photo/LM Otero

Ken Hitchcock, like Mike Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Penguins, is going back on a Game 5 decision regarding his goaltender.

The Blues head coach announced on Tuesday that Brian Elliott will start Game 6, one day after Jake Allen allowed four goals on 25 shots in a 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks. St. Louis heads back out west with their season on the line Wednesday night facing a 3-2 series deficit.

"It's his turn. It's his turn for Game 6," said Hitchcock.

Elliott had been the man in goal for the Blues this postseason, winning them a pair Game 7s in the opening two rounds. Now in the conference fina versus the Sharks, St. Louis took Game 1, but responded by being shutout in back-to-back games, leading Hitchcock to make the switch to Allen.

Hitchcock's reasoning for the swap was that Allen was the better puck mover and he wanted to give San Jose a different look in net. The plan worked in Game 4 with a 6-3 win, but not so much Monday night, and so here we are.

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"We needed a jolt to get back in the series, we got it," said Hitchcock. "We could have really got out of it yesterday. ... I just feel, for me, like Brian was the guy. We needed the jolt from Jake, we got it to get back into the series.

“Unfortunately, we didn't get the win yesterday but this has been Brian's playoffs and we'd like him to finish the job."

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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