Allen has lost eight of its last nine games (1-6-1-1) and is in sixth place in the Mountain Division, but find themselves just two points from a playoff spot. Tonight the Americans start a stretch of 12 games over the next five weeks with 10 of the 12 games at home. Home cooking and the Tulsa Oilers will be a big part of the Allen diet. Seven of the 12 upcoming games are against Tulsa and six of the seven will be at the CUTX Event Center.
- Here is a roster update:
- Rookie goalie Marco Costantini has started five straight games for Allen and will make his sixth straight start tonight. Mark Sinclair is close to being ready and has looked great in practice but is still not ready. He could be ready for the weekend games.
- Justin Allen, who has been out since December 9, and Solag Bakich, who has been out since December 30 have been full participants in practice this week and should be in the lineup tonight.
- Andrew Jarvis was suspended for the last game in Idaho on Saturday. The press release om his suspension stated "any further discipline will be announced next week." After the league completed its review no additional discipline was assessed. Jarvis is available for the game tonight. The Americans now have eight healthy defensemen, so there will be a healthy scratch for the game tonight.
- Writer Bruce Garrioch has covered the Ottawa Senators a long time for the Ottawa Sun. Here is a link to a story he published yesterday about Ottawa getting healthy coming back from the NHL All-Star break. There are a lot of moving parts but the trickle down of players from Ottawa to Belleville discussed in this story would likely mean Allen will get players assigned from Belleville. https://ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/ottawa-senators/sens-hope-help-is-on-the-way-when-they-return
- Allen's fate over the next month will largely be determined by how the Americans play against the Tulsa Oilers. It starts with three home games this week, tonight, Friday and Saturday. Next week there will be two more games against Tulsa. Allen and Tulsa have played six times this season and here are the stats:
- Allen's record against Tulsa is 3-2-1-0.
- Three of the six games went to overtime. Allen won two of the three.
- The winning team in all six games scored five or six goals.
- Allen was outshot 261-184.
- Allen scored power play goals in four of the six games. PP percentage was 33.3% (6-18).
- Tulsa scored power play goals in four of the six games. PP percentage was 28.6% (6-21).
- Tulsa scored first in four of the six games.
- Allen has averaged 4.2 goals per game.
- Tulsa has averaged 4.5 goals per game.
- While Allen has struggled over the last 10 games (2-6-1-1) Tulsa has been playing well over the last 10 games (6-3-1-0). Allen has had the tougher schedule having just finished six road games against Kansas City and Idaho.
- Tulsa has been a much better home team (14-9-2-0) than road team (7-9-1-0) while Allen is just the opposite. The Americans are 11-12-2-1 on the road and 7-11-0-0 at home. The Americans started the season 0-5-0-0 at home. At the end of December Allen started a home streak of 6-1-0-0. Just before the most recent road trips to Kansas City and Idaho the Americans lost three straight home games. Allen needs to get back on the winning ways at home starting tonight.
- The biggest key to this series will be team defense. If Allen can't hold Tulsa to fewer than four goals it will be a tough week. The Americans have lost eight of their last nine games and in those eight loses allowed 4, 6, 4, 5, 5, 5, 3, 4, 5 goals. In the lone win Allen allowed just two goals. The question remains can the Americans hold Tulsa to three or fewer goals?
- Special teams will also play a big part in the many games against Tulsa this month. The team that won the special teams battle has won all six previous games between these teams. If you look at the six head to head games both teams have been good on the power play with six power play goals. If you compare overall power play percentage the advantage goes to Allen. The Americans are ranked #9 in the ECHL with a power play percentage of 22.1%. Tulsa is ranked #28 with a power play percentage of 15.2%.
- If you are looking for players to watch tonight the top of the list is Colby McAuley for Allen who has nine points (5G, 4A) in six games against Tulsa. Tulsa's Eddie Matsushima (#15) has torched the Americans for 10 points (5G, 5A) in five games against Allen. Former Allen forward Tyler Poulsen (#11) has 23 points all season, but 30% of them (4G, 3A) have come against the Americans.
OTHER COMMENTS
- It will be a family affair in the game tonight. Allen rookie goalie Marco Costantini has an twin brother, Anthony, who is a defenseman (#10) for the Oilers. Anthony has an AHL deal with San Diego and is assigned to Tulsa. Here is a video interview with Marco that gives you some background on Marco and his brother:
- The ECHL Stats post (below) covers players on ECHL rosters that are NHL/AHL contracted, are rookies and are veterans. Here is the detailed information for Allen:
- NHL/AHL contracted (4) - Hank Crone, Bennett MacArthur, Blake Murray, Mark Sinclair
- Rookies (5) - Justin Allen, Solag Bakich, Marco Costantini, Ty Farmer, Ty Fournier
- Veterans (2) - Colton Hargrove, Colin Jacobs
- With a win tonight Allen will tie idle Utah for fourth place in points (41). It is a light Wednesday night schedule around the ECHL with only five games being played. Here are the previews: https://echl.com/news/2024/02/echl-today-feb-7
- NHL/AHL contracted players need to play five games in the ECHL to be qualified for the Kelly Cup playoffs. Two players that have been assigned to Allen by Belleville this season are one game shy of qualifying. Defenseman Donovan Sebrango and forward Tarun Fizer have played four games in Allen. Would be nice to get them qualified sooner rather than later.
Hi Barry, thanks for the updates.
ReplyDeleteAny rumblings of trades or signings? Can’t help but feel like this team would benefit from the addition of a big mean heavyweight. A little size and physicality to compliment the skill.
Also, whatever happened with Dalton Gally? It appears he’s still with the team, but MIA. I figured his size would be welcomed on an undersized Allen blueline, even if he isn’t an every game player.
Thanks.