Another Loss to KC, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Coach's Comments, Worcester Next, ECHL Shootout Results and More

 

It certainly wasn't a surprise Kansas City beat Allen 6-2 at home last night. The game unfolded pretty much as the stats predicted with the exception of special teams:

• Kansas City improved its road record to 19-6-2-0 (.741) best in the ECHL
• Allen's home record dropped to 6-13-4-0 (.341), 2nd worst in the ECHL. 
• Kansas City scored first to improve it record when scoring first to 23-2-1-1 (.889) best in the ECHL
• Allen allowed six goals, which is below its average goals allowed over the last four games (6.75).
• Kansas City allowed two goals, which is above its goals allowed average over its last eight games (1.75). The Mavericks record is 7-0-1-0 in the last eight games.
• Allen has been outscored 27-4 during this four game losing streak.
• Kansas City has outscored its opponents 31-14 during its eight game point streak.
• Kansas City led 3-0 after the first period and improved its record when leading after the first period to 19-0-0-0. 
• Allen's record when trailing after the first period is now 2-17-2-0. 
• Plain and simple there were no comebacks happening in the game last night.
• Allen is now 1-6-0-0 against Kansas City this season and will play the Mavericks three more times, on the road on February 19, 21 and 22.
  

 

- I say special teams was the one stat that didn't go as predicted because Allen actually had a small  advantage over Kansas City in both the power play and penalty kill. Allen took a bunch of undisciplined penalties throughout the game and the Mavericks made them pay. Half of their goals were scored on the power play (3-6). Allen finally did score a power play goal with 35 seconds remaining in the game and finished 1-4.

 

- It may not be a popular take, but I thought the effort by the Americans was there last night. Allen is just not good enough to keep up with Kansas City, who has nine NHL/AHL contracted players on its roster. The season is 64% complete and it is clear Allen cannot keep up with the top five teams in the Mountain Division. After 46 games played the Americans have just five wins against the top five teams. A record of 5-20-5-0 and a points percentage of only .250.

 

- Allen's loss last night put the Americans even further behind in the "Best of the Rest" standings. Here is the latest with the number of remaining home (H) and road (A) games in parenthesis:

• .370 - Allen (13H, 13A)
• .413 - Utah (13H, 13A)
• .422 - Rapid City (15H, 12A) 

- Allen's goal scorers were Brayden Watts, who scored his team leading 45th point (16G, 29A) and Harrison Blaisdell who scored his fourth goal of the season and third in as many games. I heard this story at practice the other day. Not sure I have all the facts straight but the gist of the story comes through. When James Hardie was traded in January, Allen ended up with three of his custom sticks. Harrison Blaisdell really want to get a hold of those custom sticks. He proposed a bet to equipment manager, Matt Miletich. Harrison would buy Matt coffee for a month if he didn't score a goal that night against Wichita, but if he did score a goal Matt would give him the three custom sticks. It took Matt a nanosecond to take the bet, because at the time Blaisdell had scored a total of one goal in 28 games. Sure enough, Blaisdell beat the odds and scored a goal to win the custom sticks. With his goal last night he has now scored a goal in three straight games. Love those custom sticks!

 

- Here are the video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/kansas-city-mavericks-vs-allen-americans-feb-12-2025

 

- Here is the game recap issued by the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2025/02/game-recap-americans-fall-at-home-to-kc-6-2

 

-  Allen now has to prepare for three games against the Worcester Railers on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Worcester is fighting for a playoff spot in the North Division with a record of 20-20-2-4 (.500). Allen has played Worcester before both at home (one game) and on the road (one game). More details in the series preview tomorrow.

 

COACH'S COMMENTS

"We talked about the importance of coming out strong to start the game but that just didn't happen. I thought we had a couple of good days of practice after last weekend, but that didn't translate to the game."

"We took too many undisciplined penalties and it cost us. Our power play has been coming along but let us down tonight. Half their goals were on the power play. You are not going to win many games when you are 3-6 on the penalty kill. Once again we end up on the wrong side of the special teams ledger."

"These are the types of games we should have no trouble getting up for because they are they are the standard we want to achieve."

"We don't know what Worcester will bring this weekend, but they are a team fighting for their playoff lives right now. We expect it will be a mini playoff series."

"I see the work the players are putting in on Monday and Tuesday at practice. The work that is happening, the details I am trying to hammer home. It sucks to lose, but we are looking for small incremental gains."

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- As the ECHL approaches the final third of the season here is a breakdown of the league by point percentages:

• Above .700: FLA, TR, TOL, WHL, KC
• .600-.699: SC, NOR, TAH, JAX, TUL,WIC, FW
• .500-.599: IA, ORL, IDH, BLM, WOR, IND
• .400-.499: SAV, ATL, GVL, REA, CIN, RC, MNE, KAL, UTA
• Below .400: ADK, ALN

The top point percentage is .745 (Florida) and the bottom point percentage is .370 (Allen).

 

- Brayden Watts is tied for 12th in the ECHL in points with 45. The league leader is Brandon Hawkins with 63 points. Kyle Crnkovic is tied for 13th in the league with 30 assists. Brandon Hawkins is the league leader with 36 assists.

 

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about shootout records. Allen has only been invloved in one shootout this season which they lost. The Americans were 0-3 in that shootout.

 

3 ECHL teams have zero shootouts this season (Maine, Savannah, Cincinnati). Here is the shootout record and conversion percentage for the 4 teams with the most (3) shootout wins:

 

Toledo: 3-0

75.0% (6-8)

 

Greenville: 3-2

57.1% (8-14)

 

Wichita: 3-1

35.3% (6-17)

 

Trois Rivières: 3-1

26.7% (4-15)

 

 

Worst shootout record:

Worcester: 0-4

8.3% (1-12)