The specialty jersey curse struck again at the Allen Event Center last night as the Americans turned a 3-0 second period lead into a disappointing 4-3 loss to the Idaho Steelheads before a Saturday night crowd of 3682.
- With a 3-0 lead, Allen gave up a goal with less than a minute left in the second period which gave Idaho life. Allen was still in the driver's seat with a 3-1 lead going into the third period but three unanswered goals spelled defeat for the Americans. Too many turnovers and failure to get pucks in deep spelled doom for the Americans.
- The goal scorers for Allen were Spencer Asuchak (3), Gabe Gagne (3) and Jared VanWormer (1). The starting line (Archambault, Asuchak, Gagne) scored on their first two shifts of the game.
- Here is the game recap issued by the Idaho Steelheads: https://www.idahosteelheads.com/en/articles/steelheads-score-four-straight-overcome-deficit-to-beat-americans-4-3
- Here are the game highlights with all of the goals and some great saves by Evan Weninger who played great in goal for Allen:
STEVE MARTINSON'S POST GAME COMMENTS
"The goal we gave up late in the second period gave them life. They came back in the third period just like they did last night in Wichita. We did plenty of good things to win the game but then we did plenty of bad things to lose the game. Some of our players stayed on the ice too long which created turnovers and odd man rush opportunities for Idaho."
"We didn't make good decisions on the power play."
"We will get some fresh legs in the lineup tomorrow and sit some guys out. We will get a little more jump and maybe make smarter plays."
"Sometimes we try to show we are more skilled than we need to be. We were trying to make saucer passes when it wasn't necessary and we had a 4-on-2 and made the pass to the wrong side, it was painful."
"Weninger played well in goal and made some great saves."
"One way or another we need to get greasier. We have to be harder to play against. I am working on that."
"Tonight was an example of what can happen when you don't play the entire 60 minutes. We were in control of the game, out playing and out chancing them and then we just got greedy. We had a 3-1 lead and had guys jumping into the play and giving up odd man rushes."
"Redmond is only here for the weekend. I have another goalie that might be getting assigned here from another organization. I am most likely going to do that option which will complicate things. I am not going to go through what happened last year when we had goalies hurt and goalies in the AHL and we struggled. I am probably going to make things a little bit harder on everybody from a goaltending situation but that is what I am most likely going to do."
REMATCH PREVIEW
- The best thing about the loss last night is Allen doesn't have to wait very long to do something about it with a 4:05 pm rematch this afternoon.
- Look for several lineup changes for Allen both up front and at the blue line. Evan Weninger should be in goal again today.
- Coach Martinson mentioned the team needs to be greasier and be harder to play against. It is hard to believe but Allen is one of only two ECHL teams (Reading the other) that has not taken a five or 10 minute penalty this season.
- I mentioned this yesterday and it is the most stark difference between Allen and Idaho. The Americans are last (#26) in average goals allowed at 4.80 goals per game. After last night Idaho is #1 in average goals allowed at 2.17 per game.
- There were only three minor penalties called last night, two on Allen, one on Idaho. The game tying goal by the Steelheads was scored on the power play. Allen needs to win the special teams battle today if they expect to win.
- With the disappointment of blowing a 3-0 lead and losing the game last might it is worth noting Allen out shot Idaho 40-32. If they can manage 40 shots on goal again this afternoon and clean up the defensive mistakes they will have a good chance of winning the game. It won't be easy as Idaho is expected to start their top goalie, Tomas Sholl, who in four games has a GAA of 1.94 and save percentage of .934.
- The referee scheduled today is Maxime Primeau (#16) and the linesmen will be Daniel Barnes (#76) and Aaron Schacht (#51).
OTHER COMMENTS
- The Americans had a live auction after the game for the Pink in the Rink specialty jerseys they wore last night. I think the plans are to use more live auctions this season. The jerseys sold for between $200 - $700 dollars with the majority going between $225 - $325. The top two were Spencer Asuchak ($700) and Jordan Topping ($500).
- It was a rough night for attendance around the ECHL for a Saturday night, which is historically the biggest attendance night. The 12 games last night drew 43,924 for an average of just 3660. One team (Wheeling) drew 1713 and four others (Greenville, Norfolk, Maine, Brampton) drew between 2100 - 2800.
- Here are the Mountain Division standings based on winning percentage which is a better stat given the disparity in games played. Allen has played the fewest games (5), Tulsa the most (9).
.917 - Idaho
.786 - Rapid City
.600 - Allen
.500 - Wichita
.429 - Utah
.333 - Kansas City
.278 - Tulsa
- Turner Ottenbreit played in his first game for Iowa last night as they lost to Tucson 2-1 in overtime. Jake Doty also played in his first game for Ontario as they beat San Diego 3-2. Congrats to both.
DID YOU KNOW: It is very rare for the Allen Americans to blow a lead after two periods as they did last night. Even though they had the worst record in the ECHL last season, Allen was 15-2-1-1 when leading after two periods. Since joining the ECHL in 2014 the Americans record when leading after two periods is 140-11-4-4.
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