The Allen Americans take on the Tulsa Oilers this morning (10:35 am CDT) in a battle between the last place teams in the Mountain Division. The teams will play again on Friday night. For the Americans the two games against the Oilers are critical. Starting Tuesday (11/7), Allen will play its next seven games against the top two teams in the division (Kansas City and Idaho) who have a combined record of 10-1.
- Here are some comparisons between Allen and Tulsa
- Both have identical records of 1-3-0-0
- Allen has scored 13 goals and allowed 22, Tulsa has scored 11 goals and allowed 16
- Allen scores more goals per game, 3.25 vs 2.75
- Allen allows more goals per game, 5.5 vs 4.0
- Power Play: Allen is 2-18 (11.1%), Tulsa is 3-12 (25.0%)
- Penalty Kill: Allen is 5-21 (76.2%), Tulsa is 5-16 (68.8%)
- Scoring First: Allen is 1-2, Tulsa is 1-0
- Active roster comparison:
- Veteran Players: Allen 3, Tulsa 2
- Rookies: Allen 4, Tulsa 8
- NHL/AHL Contracted: Allen 2, Tulsa 6
- Allen has a winning record in Tulsa, 5-4-0-0 last season and 12-10-2-0 over the last five years. With the upcoming schedule for the Americans, a split in Tulsa is not good enough if the Americans expect to avoid last place for the rest of November.
- Both of these teams are struggling but for different reasons. Tulsa has had trouble scoring goals averaging just 2.75 goals per game while Allen's trouble is goals allowed at 5.50 per game. The keys for Allen in the game this morning are familiar, a good start, winning the special teams battle and keeping the low scoring Oilers off the scoreboard.
- Special teams will be critical and which group shows up for Allen will determine success. The penalty kill was outstanding the first weekend against Idaho allowing just one goal (1-12) and scoring three shorthanded goals. Last weekend against Atlanta it was just the opposite as the penalty kill unit gave up four power play goals (4-9) and the Gladiators scored three shorthanded goals.
- Allen added defenseman Bray Crowder yesterday and he is expected to meet the team in Tulsa. Crowder is a 6' 6" and 210 pound right shot defenseman in his second professional season. He played 40 ECHL games last season, most recently with Atlanta.
He belongs to the Crowder hockey family tree. His father Troy, was drafted by the New Jersey Devils and played 150 NHL games over the course of a decade-long pro career. His grandfather (Brian) along with uncles Jeff and Ted Scharf also played professionally for various leagues, including the CHL, WHA and AHL.
- Allen has had balanced scoring with four players tied for the team lead with two goals (Daoust, Finlay, Hargrove, Puricelli). Chad Butcher leads the team in assists with four. Another player to watch in Tulsa is Matt Marcinew who has had lots of great scoring chances with only one goal thus far.
- Look for some line combinations to change in the game today. Coach Costello is still trying to find the best combination and chemistry between the lines. Mark Sinclair will get the start in goal.
- The player to watch for Tulsa is Michael Farren (#26). He had a pure hat trick on Sunday to lead Tulsa to a win over Cincinnati and has four goal is four games for the Oilers.
- There are two games on the ECHL schedule today, both morning games. Always fun to have arenas full of screaming school kids enjoying hockey on a school day. Here is the ECHL Today with the previews: https://echl.com/news/2023/11/echl-today-nov-2
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