- The second period proved to be a disaster again for the Americans. The Mavericks out shot Allen 19-6 in the game on Tuesday. Last night the second period shot totals were 20-8 in favor of the Mavericks.
- Other than scoring first and taking a 2-0 first period lead the Americans failed the keys to the game. Allen was out shot 47-26 and when you have a shot differential of -21 you won't win many games. Some of the differential was caused by the fact Kansas City had seven power play opportunities compared to only two for Allen. Included in the seven Mavericks power plays was back to back five-on-three power plays. The 47 shots on goal was a season high for Kansas City. The Mavericks have had 40 or more shots on goal all four times these teams have played this season. Allen is 2-1-1-0 against the Mavericks but Kansas City has out shot the Americans 170-112.
- Winning the special teams battle was another key to the game. Allen's power play could not have been better going 2-2 however the penalty kill unit gave up three power play goals including the goal that tied the game 3-3 with under three minutes left in the game and the game winning goal 73 seconds into overtime.
- Goal scorers for Allen were Alex Guptill (8, first with Allen), David Makowski (7) and Joel Chouinard (4). The video highlights are on ECHL Rewind: https://www.echl.com/
- Here is the game recap from the Kansas City Mavericks: http://kcmavericks.com/news/?article_id=1020
- Here are some post game quotes courtesy of the Allen Americans:
"We weren't good on the penalty kill tonight. On the five-on-three we got caught on the outside and gave them a nice shot in the slot. We didn't have our sticks in the right lanes on the second power play goal and on the third one we let them stand there and let them get too close and they hit the far side."..... Steve Martinson
"Just making dumb mistakes and taking too many penalties. Seven penalty kills on four guys takes its toll on everyone and slows down the game for us.".....Allen forward Colby McAuley on the poor penalty kill
"Playing a man down is never easy. It's pro hockey. That means their best players are on the ice and sometimes they make nice plays and tonight they did. They got a double tip on one and in overtime Robertson just made a good play. He was patient, found the right hole, and shot it through."....... Allen goalie Stephon William
"We didn't play very good. We got out worked and out skated. We seem to think we can beat them with skill and we keep turning the puck over and over and over. We didn't win enough battles for the puck, we didn't generate enough speed and we didn't deserve to win. We got a point but it was a bad effort.....Martinson
"That's a hard working team. They are meat and potatoes kind of guys. They were banged up and they just dump it in and work hard. It is just one of those things where you must match the effort every shift.".....Williams
"I am going to make the entire team sit down and watch the game with me. They will go through what I go through and they are going to see all of the turnovers, the soft play and not winning puck battles. That is what ends up with our opponents getting all of those scoring opportunities. We are not a hard working team and it is costing us.".....Martinson
"I liked the way we played in the third period last night (Tuesday). We got off to a good start tonight but in the second period we got into penalty problems and got outskated.
OTHER COMMENTS
- It was a disappointing loss for the Americans last night but they did come away with one point and now trail third place Wichita by two points and second place Idaho by four points. Allen has played the same number of games as Wichita (26) but has three games in hand over Idaho.
- Allen now prepares for the back half of four games in five days against the Tulsa Oilers on Friday and Saturday. Tulsa is in fifth place in the Mountain Division (six points behind Allen) but has been playing better hockey recently. Tulsa has points in eight of their last 10 games with a record of 6-2-1-1. There will be a complete game preview in the blog tomorrow.
- The Allen Americans have been testing for a couple of months a new way to capture game highlights using a video application from a company named Sporfie. The good news is fans can also use this application at no cost. The Allen Event Center/Community rink was the third venue in the nation to have Sporfie installed. All you have to do is download the application, create an account and login. Events are created automatically for all Allen games. Anytime you attend a game all you have to do is open your Sporfie app and join the event. Sit back and enjoy the game! When something happens you want to save, you just click in the app to capture the 15 seconds that just happened. Your clips will be delivered instantly from all cameras filming the ice. You can share video clips instantly via email or text and on all of your social media platforms. The possibilities are endless.
The Allen Americans encourage everyone to try the product when they attend games. You can capture your favorite moments and share with family and friends following the play or after the game. The app also allows fans to view all other fan's recorded moments. If you have children who play games in the community rink this is a must have application.
To get started all you need to do is go to sporfie.com and download the app. It works on both apple and android devices. Here is the link:https://www.sporfie.com/
The Sporfie team installed three additional cameras last night so now there are five different views you can capture. Checkout these highlights from Sporfie. This is my first effort in linking these highlights in the blog so hope this works. As I get better with the app I will include more links:
Here is the first Allen goal scored by Alex Guptill: https://sporfie.app.link/b91B6fzP2I
Here is David Makowski's goal that gave Allen a 2-0 lead: https://sporfie.app.link/obL5yqIQ2I
This link is from one of the new cameras which is the view of Allen's bench. This captures the bench celly after Makowski's goal. https://sporfie.app.link/lqa8cyIQ2I
- Allen has not fared very well this season in games that have gone to overtime. In six games they have one overtime win, three overtime losses, one shootout win and one shootout loss.
- With their two power play goals last night (2-2) Allen has climbed to #3 in the ECHL in power play percentage (20.4%). The penalty kill ranking continues to fall. Allen gave up three more power play goals last night and the penalty kill is now ranked #23 at 79.7%.
- Bryan Moore had an assist on Makowski's goal to keep his point streak alive which is now at nine games. Bryan's nine game point streak is the second longest in the league right now. He has an assist in seven straight games dating back to November 24. That is currently the longest assist streak in the ECHL.
- Casey Pierro-Zabotel has an assist in his last six home games which is one shy of the longest home assist streak in the ECHL this season. Casey continues to lead the league in assists with 24, three more than second place.
- Joel Chouinard had a goal and an assist in the game last night in a losing cause and was a +1. Joel has climbed to #5 in the league (second among defensemen) in plus/minus with +16. The league leader is at +19.
- David Makowski also had a goal and assist in the game last night and is now just two points behind the league lead for points by a defenseman. David continues to lead all ECHL defensemen is average points per game at 1.09. He has 24 points (7 goals 17 assists) in 22 games.
DID YOU KNOW: I am sure many hockey fans have watched one or more videos from the On the Bench duo of Jacob and Olly who are known for giving out the worst hockey advice. Check out their latest when the boys plan a trip to Toronto and accidentally end up in Dubai signing with the Mighty Camels hockey team. Pay close attention to the video and you will notice their teammate is non other than former Allen Americans forward Patrik Valcak who was on the 2014-15 Kelly Cup championship team. In case you were wondering there really is hockey in Dubai and Patrik does play for the Mighty Camels.
I have been using the Sporfie app since it was first announced. It is a great chance to see a replay of something that wasn't shown in the arena. I only wish there were about four more cameras capturing the action.
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