A big Saturday night crowd of 5497 at the CUTX Event Center watched the Americans lose 5-1 to the Idaho Steelheads last night. As good as the Americans were in beating Idaho 6-2 Friday night they swere not ready for what Idaho brought to the ice last night. There are several reasons Idaho has the best record in the ECHL over the last two seasons and one of them is how the Steelheads play after a loss. Since the beginning of the 2022-23 season Idaho has never lost back to back games against the same team.
- Both coaches talked about the same keys to winning this series and they have proven to be the difference in the first two games. Staying out of the penalty box was one key and the other key related to Allen getting out of its defensive zone. Allen want to exit its defensive zone with speed and skill. Idaho wants to put pressure on the Americans, create turnovers and slow Allen down exiting the defensive zone.
- Allen failed in both keys last night. The Americans struggled to get the puck out of the defensive zone. Idaho scored the first goal of the game on an Allen turnover behind the net. It was the only goal of the first period. Allen was able to come back from giving up the first goal on Friday night and win the game but that is a rarity against Idaho who has a record of 15-2-0-1 when scoring first.
- Despite trailing 1-0 after the first period Allen was still in the game. First period shots were close, favoring Idaho 11-9. The Steelheads had the better opportunities but the Americans were holding their own. That all changed in the second period.
- After just one minor penalty (against Idaho) in the first period, the second period had nine penalties and 33 penalty minutes. Six of the nine penalties and 25 of the 33 penalty minutes were against the Americans. When the dust settled on the second period Idaho had outshot Allen 16-6 and scored four unanswered goals including two power play goals to put the game out of reach. Idaho took a 2-0 lead early in the period on a Matt Register power play goal while Hank Crone was serving a double minor penalty for cross-checking. The game seemed to change after Idaho scored the power play goal to take the 2-0 lead. By the 7:39 mark of the second period the Steelheads had a 4-0 lead and there was no response from the Americans. Ty Fournier took a five minute major and game misconduct penalty for boarding and Idaho managed to score a second power play goal give Idaho a 5-0 lead. The second period summary was four goals for Idaho to none for Allen. Two of the four Idaho goals were on the power play and a third goal was just as a penalty expired.
- Allen managed to avoid a shutout when Hank Crone scored his eighth goal of the season assisted by Bennett MacArthur and Blake Murray. The goal extended Crone's point streak to 10 games which is the longest current point streak in the league. Blake Murray's assist was his fifth straight game with an assist which is currently the second longest assist streak in the league. Murray has played eight games for Allen and has 12 points (6G, 6A) for a 1.50 points per game average. Crone has played 19 games since joining Allen and now leads the team in points with 28 (8G, 20A) and has a 1.47 points per game average.
- Here are links to game recaps from both teams and the video highlights:
- Allen Americans game recap: https://allenamericans.com/news/2023/12/game-recap-americans-fall-to-idaho-5-1
- Idaho Steelheads game recap: https://idahosteelheads.com/news/2023/12/steelheads-score-four-times-during-second-period-in-5-1-win
- Video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/idaho-steelheads-vs-allen-americans-dec-30-2023
- Inconsistency has been an issue for Allen all season. After allowing just six goals during the Americans three game home win streak, it was back to five goals allowed last night. A reminder this series has the ECHL #1 team in goals scored per game (Idaho - 4.72) and the #28 team in goals allowed per game (Allen- 4.41). When Allen plays good defensive hockey and allows fewer than four goals in a game the Americans record is 9-2-0-0 (.818). When the Americans allow four or more goals their record is 2-15-1-0 (.139).
- Which Allen team shows up tonight will dictate if the Americans can meet the goal of winning two of three games in every series. Penalties cost Allen last night and they have to stay out of the penalty box tonight. Idaho was 2-8 on the power play and scored a third goal just after a penalty expired, while Allen was 0-4.
- The Americans struggled getting the puck out of the defensive zone last night and they will have to do better tonight if they expect to win. The struggles in the defensive zone creates turnovers which reduces shots for Allen and increases shots for Idaho. That is why the Americans were doubled up on shots last night (41-20). Finally, Allen has given up the first goal in both games in this series. The Americans need to score first tonight.
- If you watched the game last night you saw plenty of
disagreements on the penalty calls. The referee scheduled tonight is the
same referee as last night, #24 Andrew Bell.
OTHER COMMENTS
- The Allen Americans New Year's Eve (NYE) game has become a tradition. In 2009-10 Allen played on the road and in 2015-16 they did not play on NYE, but every other season they have played at home. The Americans NYE fortunes have changed recently. In their first seven NYE games the Americans record was 7-0. Since 2017-18 the Americans record is 1-5. Here are the NYE results:
- 2022-23 - Lost to Wichita at home 7-3
- 2021-22 - Beat Idaho at home 4-1
- 2020-21 - Lost to Wichita at home 7-2
- 2019-20 - Lost to Idaho at home 6-5
- 2018-19 - Lost to Tulsa at home 3-1
- 2017-18 - Lost to Wichita at home 4-2
- 2016-17 - Beat Utah at home 8-4
- 2015-16 - Did Not Play on NYE
- 2014-15 - Beat Rapid City at home 5-3
- 2013-14 - Beat Wichita at home 5-3
- 2012-13 - Beat Quad City at home 4-0
- 2011-12 - Beat Laredo at home 3-2
- 2010-11 - Beat Tulsa at home 10-1
- 2009-10 - Beat Wichita on road 3-1
- There are 12 games on tap around the ECHL today with start times varying from 3:00 pm EST to 7:05 MST. Don't forget the Americans game is an early start with puck drop scheduled for 6:10 pm CST. Here are all the previews. https://echl.com/news/2023/12/echl-today-dec-31
- The hottest team in the league right now is Toledo who has points in nine straight games with a record of 8-0-0-1. Toledo has taken over the league lead in points percentage from Idaho. Here are the three teams ahead of the pack with point percentages above. 700. Greenville is in fourth place in point percentage (.683) having fallen out of the .700 club with a record of 3-6-1-0 over the last 10 games.
- .778 - Toledo
- .776 - Idaho
- .750 - Kansas City
- DID YOU KNOW: Here is the ECHL stats post for today. It is interesting that Hank Crone is one of the few ECHL players on pace to score over 90 points this season. Crone missed the first 10 games of the season which is 35% of the season thus far:
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