Hutton, signed to a two-year, $2.25 million free agent contract on July 1 to back up starter Jake Allen, will get his first start for the Blues, who will try to begin the season with three straight wins for the fourth time in franchise history. St. Louis also started 3-0-0 in 1969-70, 1993-94 and 2013-14.
"Obviously excited, what a crowd [Thursday] night, what a fun win and obviously a big one to start in Chicago," Hutton said. "I'm just excited to get in there and looking forward to it.
"... You can get into every little detail but sometimes less is more in my world and just excited to get in there and play. Control what I can and play my game."
Playing three games in four nights almost always means a team will use each of its goaltenders.
But Hitchcock wants to reward Hutton, even though he had the option of going back to Allen, who faced a total of 40 shots in wins against the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday and the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
"We made the decision with the three games that we're playing, we wanted to take a look at guys and if we saw some chemistry, we'd lock in on it," Hitchcock said. "But also on Hutton, it's an early reward for a job well done in training camp. He did a great job during training camp; he was outstanding. And he's part of our team moving forward. We've got to get him in the action as quickly as possible."
Not that Hitchcock had any complaints with the play of his starter.
"[Allen] might not have had a lot of shots, but what he did have, he's had a lot of quality shots. He had three breakaways [Thursday], he had two the game before. He's had a lot of really high-quality scoring chances that he's turned back," he said. "I just think playing off back-to-back, three games in four nights under normal circumstances, if this was the middle of the season, we'd be playing Carter anyways, so why not start it up now."
The Rangers, coming off a season-opening 5-3 home victory against the New York Islanders, did not have a full morning skate. Defenseman Dylan McIlrath, a healthy scratch Thursday, and backup goalie Antti Raanta were the only players on the ice. The Rangers are not expected to make any lineup changes.
Left wing Chris Kreider and fourth-line center Brandon Pirri each had a goal and an assist in the opener, and center Mika Zibanejad had two assists in his Rangers debut.
