The Allen Americans ended Tulsa's seven game point streak with a hard earned 4-3 win over the Oilers last night and in the process extended their point streak to six games, tied for the longest in the league.
- Allen hit all of their keys to the game. They scored first and now have a record when scoring first of (21-3-1-1). The Americans had a 2-1 lead at the first intermission, improving their record to 18-2-2-0 when leading after the first period.
- While neither team was able to score on the power play with Allen going 0-2 and Tulsa 0-4 the Americans won the special teams battle. The game winning goal was scored shorthanded by Brett Pollock at the 14:47 mark of the third period. It was Allen's fourth shorthanded goal in their last six games.
- Finally, Allen kept the shots on goal close (38-32) especially considering Tulsa had more power play time.
- Goal scorers for Allen were Josh Brittain (10, 11), Josh Lammon (5), and Brett Pollock (15).
- Here is the game recap issued by the Tulsa Oilers: https://tulsaoilers.com/12221-2/
- Here are the video highlights from the game with all of the goals and excellent saves by both goalies. I want to give a special shout out to Kamen Kessler from the Americans front office who puts together these highlight packages. I can tell from the time stamp Kamen was still working on these highlights well after 1:00 am.
STEVE MARTINSON'S POST GAME COMMENTS
"I made a line change and we got scored on right off the faceoff. We turned the puck over behind the net. I thought Paterson had it covered but somehow it got jammed into our net."
"We kept having the lead and then giving it up but then came up with the 2-on-1 shorthanded goal to win the game."
"I thought Tulsa had three lines that can make plays but we handed them several breakaways. Giving up the breakaways was frustrating."
"Fraser had a big hit on Lammon's goal which I think disrupted the defenseman. Lammon swooped in and scored. He has been really skating well and working his butt off. It was nice to see him get rewarded with a goal."
"Sadek has been really good, he is so calm with the puck. I would really like to see Iowa give some of the young guys they have under contract like Sadek who is +25 and Breton who leads all ECHL defensemen in scoring (36 points) a chance."
"Mitch Vandergunst will go in the lineup against Wichita tomorrow."
"I don't think we will see Gagne back until playoff time. I do think we will see Matt Register and Jake Doty return to Allen for at least five games so they qualify for the playoffs."
ALLEN VS WICHITA GAME PREVIEW
- The Americans left for Wichita right after their victory last night and were scheduled to arrive around 5:00 am this morning. Meanwhile Wichita was at home, having not played a game since last Sunday.
- Allen is 4-0-3-0 against Wichita this season. All three games they have played in Wichita have gone to overtime with the Thunder winning two of them.
- Allen has the advantage over Wichita in most statistical categories including average goals scored (4.1 vs 2.8), average goals allowed (3.2 vs 3.6), average shots for (32.9 vs 28.5), average shots against (35.1 vs 36.5), power play percentage (17.6% vs 13.9% and penalty kill percentage (82.8% vs 77.9%).
- Allen's special teams over the last six games include a power play percentage of 43.5% and a penalty kill percentage of 90.5%. The penalty killers have given up two goals in the last six games but have scored four shorthanded goals. Big advantage for Allen.
- The referee scheduled tonight is the same referee that had the Allen game against Tulsa last night, Cameron Fleming. Hope he didn't have to drive to Wichita overnight.
- Wichita has lost six of their last seven games (1-4-2-0) but all seven games were on the road. However they have won their last five home games. The Thunder haven't lost at home since before the Christmas break.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Coach Martinson mentioned he would like to see young players like Sadek, Breton and Sheehy get a chance with Iowa. Sheehy has been up briefly but Sadek and Breton have not. Here is my take on this issue. First off there is no doubt these players can play at the next level and are playing their best hockey right now. Here are a few stats on each:
Jack Sadek - Jack leads the Americans in plus/minus (+25) and is #2 among all defensemen in the league. He is +9 in his last five games. Sadek has assists in five of his last six games including two assists last night and three against Utah last Friday. Jack didn't have a point the first month of the season but has just cracked the #20 in scoring among ECHL defensemen with 23 points (3G, 20A). He has gotten better as the season has gone on.
Alex Breton - Alex leads the Americans and the ECHL (tied) in scoring by a defenseman with 36 points (6G, 30A). Alex also got off to a slow start with just seven points in the his first 17 games. Compare that to the last 13 games when he scored 16 points. Breton has had one negative plus/minus game in his last 11 games.
Tyler Sheehy - Despite missing seven games when he was in Iowa, Tyler is tied for the ECHL lead in scoring with 56 points (19G, 37A). Going back to mid December (22 games) the Allen power play with Sheehy in the lineup is 31.7% and with him out of the lineup the power play percentage is 12.1%.
The bottom line is if Iowa doesn't give these players a chance it is difficult to see them wanting to sign with the Wild again next season. They are all on one year contracts. They are among the best players in the ECHL and there is little doubt if they were free agents this year they would be loaned to AHL teams by now.
- With two goals last night Josh Brittain has scored four goals in the three games he has played against Tulsa this season." Good news for Josh going forward since Allen will play Tulsa eight more times this season.
- With their win last night Allen became the first ECHL team to reach 70 points this season. To put that in perspective, last season two teams made the playoffs with 76 points. Here are the five teams that 60+ points with games played in parenthesis:
70 points - Allen (47 games)
68 points - South Carolina (43 games)
61 points - Newfoundland (42 games)
60 points - Cincinnati (44 games)
60 points - Florida (43 games)
DID YOU KNOW: Allen has four shorthanded goals in the last six games after having four in their first 41 games. There are 13 ECHL teams that have four or fewer shorthanded goals for the entire season.
The Americans have a ways to go to pass the most shorthanded goals all time in one season. Here are Allen's shorthanded goals for each season in franchise history:
8 - 2019-20 (thru 47 games)
8 - 2018-19
7 - 2017-18
9 - 2016-17
9 - 2015-16
13 - 2014-15
11 - 2013-14
7 - 2012-13
2 - 2011-12
13 - 2010-11
8 - 2009-10
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