It was deja vu all over again last night as the Allen Americans defeated the Utah Grizzlies before a Tuesday night crowd of 3381 at the Allen Event Center (AEC). When Utah last visited the AEC in October they blew out the Americans 10-4 in the first game but Allen rebounded in game two with a 5-4 overtime win. Fast forward to the last two nights and the Grizzlies blew out the Americans 6-1 on Monday but Allen rebounded with a 6-5 overtime win on Tuesday night.
- The game last night started out much like the game on Monday. Allen scored first as Les Lancaster and Tyler Sheehy teamed up for a shorthanded goal just 2:57 into the game. It was Sheehy's first goal since returning from his stint in Iowa (AHL). Just like Monday night, after Allen took a 1-0 lead the Grizzlies scored three straight goals and it started to look like another blowout. When the dust settled on the second period Allen had been out shot 20-8 but managed to score twice and trailed 4-3 at the second intermission.
- Allen scored twice early in the third period to take a 5-4 lead but could not hold on against a potent Utah attack which led to the tying goal and yet another overtime for the Americans. Allen dominated the overtime period and it looked to be over when Stepan Falkovsky and Gabe Gagne had a 2-on-0 break only to be stopped. Allen went on the power play at the 2:11 mark of the overtime which is four players against three. The Americans peppered the Utah goalie and scored the game winner on a cannon of a slap shot from Falkovsky.
- Goal scorers for Allen were Tyler Sheehy (16, 17), Gabe Gagne (24), Stepan Falkovsky (8, 9) and Jared VanWormer (17). Here are the video highlights:
- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/americans-grab-overtime-win-over-utah/
STEVE MARTINSON'S POST GAME COMMENTS
- I often say the time coach Martinson spends with season ticket holders after games is well worth the price of admission. Last night was one of those nights with Martinson on his "A" game. Informative, entertaining, full of laughs while answering every question fans asked. Here are a few of the quotes that can repeated outside of that room:
"It was quite a back and forth game but I really liked the way we came back in the third period and didn't let up. We finally got a power play in overtime."
"We had two power play goals, one to take the lead and the other to win the game, which was great."
"I don't know how many times I have said shoot the puck and go to the net. We have some guys that try to beat their guy at the top of the circle and lose the puck. Sheehy comes to the top of the circle, shoots the puck, skates by the defenseman, gets the puck back and puts it in the net. He is just a very smart player."
"The 2-on-0 miss in overtime with Falkovsky and Gagne was one of those you pass to me to shoot, no I will pass to you to shoot, no I will pass to you to shoot. If we would have lost that game after that I am not sure what I would have done."
"I thought we were more physical tonight and it will help when we get Asuchak and Brittain back who are two of our more physical players."
"We didn't have enough greasy guys going to the net last night. We did a much better job on that tonight."
OTHER COMMENTS
- Allen has gone to overtime 17 times this season which is 40% of the their games. No other team has had more than 12 overtimes and the league average is under eight per team. The Americans overtime record is now 9-6 and their shootout record is 1-1.
- Gabe Gagne scored his league leading 24th goal last night. It was his fourth straight game with a goal and his fifth straight home game with a goal, both the longest current streaks in the ECHL.
- Tyler Sheehy had three points (2G, 1A) and has moved into second place in the ECHL scoring race with 46 points despite missing seven games while he was in Iowa.
- It was a great night for the Allen special teams last night which accounted for three of the six goals. The penalty kill was perfect and also picked up a shorthanded goal. The power play was 2-3.
- The Americans have now completed 42 games (58%) of their season. They have played more games than any other team in the league. Some teams have played as few as 34 games. What this means going forward for Allen is more time off. There are 83 days left in the regular season and the Americans have just 30 games in those 83 days.
- Allen has a 12 point lead over second place Idaho and a 14 point lead over third place Utah in the Mountain Division standings.
DID YOU KNOW: 13 players have spent four or more seasons with the Allen Americans:
Seven Seasons
Spencer Asuchak
Six Seasons
Gary Steffes
Five Seasons
Brian McMillin
Jarret Lukin
Four Seasons
Tyler Ludwig
Mike Berube
David Makowski
Mike Gunn
Greger Hanson
Bruce Graham
Trevor Ludwig
Eric Roy
Garrett Clarke
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