The St. Louis Blues are only down 2-1 in their Western Conference finals series against the San Jose Sharks, but the two straight losses were enough for head coach Ken Hitchcock to make a dramatic change to the lineup.

In a surprise move, Hitchcock announced Friday night that Jake Allen will be making his first start in the 2016 playoffs for Game 4 against the Sharks. He'll replace Brian Elliott, who was yanked from his Game 3 start after allowing three goals on 14 shots.

Elliott has arguably been the Blues' best player for much of the postseason, though. The 31-year-old netminder has a .925 save percentage and 2.34 goals-against average. He has been between the pipes in each of the Blues' successful Game 7s in their two previous series, yet he will be replaced for Allen, who has not started a game of any kind since April 3.

Allen has appeared in two playoff games in relief of Elliott this postseason for a grand total of 50 minutes. He has only had to make nine saves. Allen was the Blues' starter last postseason, however. Allen went 2-4 as the Blues were bounced in the first round by the Minnesota Wild. He posted a .910 save percentage and 1.90 goals-against average. So his first run as a playoff starter wasn't exactly memorable.

It's pretty clear why Hitchcock is doing this. He wants to change the momentum in the series as the Blues have been outplayed in all three games so far and are probably a little lucky to only trail 2-1. He's also hinted at various stages of the postseason that he thought about making a goalie swap, but never actually pulled the trigger. The Sharks are posing quite a challenge, though.

In each of the games where Allen replaced Elliott, the Blues players had a little more jump even though it was usually too little, too late. However, now we'll have to see if that makes a difference over the course of a full game. Falling behind 3-1 to San Jose in the series is not going to do a whole lot for the Blues' hopes of ending their franchise-spanning Stanley Cup drought.

This move, however, comes at the expense of Elliott, who has been mostly consistent in the playoffs and has kept the Blues in some games and won them some games they probably shouldn't have been in. To take the net away from him at this most crucial point of the playoffs is a massive risk. Especially considering the lack of reps Allen has gotten.

Coaches can't be totally concerned with a player's feelings when the Stanley Cup is on the line, but this is a tough message to send to Elliott who has done everything the team has needed him to do. Throughout his career, Elliott has been either passed over or has had to share the responsibilities in the net. Now when he's finally playing regularly and rewarding his team for doing so, it's happening all over again.

If the Blues don't play any differently in front of Allen, this move probably doesn't amount to much. However, despite all of the success they've had already in these playoffs, this decision shows the desperation the Blues coach is feeling about this series. We'll see if it pays off. It could be a series-defining decision.

Game 4 is set for Saturday at 7:15 p.m. ET.

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Blues goalie Jake Allen will get his first start of the playoffs in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. USATSI