The Allen Americans have a chance tonight to win a fourth straight game and a fourth straight series as they take on Tulsa in game two of three games. Game three will be in Tulsa tomorrow night (Saturday).
- The key to victory tonight will be more of the same from Allen's 5-2 win on Wednesday.
- A good start - Allen scored two goals in the first five minutes of the game and never trailed. The Americans' record when they score first is 7-1-2-0.
- Great defense - Allen has won three straight games and allowed 0, 1, and 2 goals. Allen's record this season when allowing two or fewer goals is 8-0-1-0.
- Great goaltending - Marco Costantini has been in goal during this three-game winning streak. He has saved 111 of 114 shots in the three wins for a save percentage of .974. Costantini will be in goal again tonight.
- Special teams - Allen's #1 penalty kill was 0-2 on Wednesday, and the power play was 1-3. If the Americans can win the special teams battle tonight, odds are they will win the game.
- There were some defensive lapses on Wednesday, especially at the end of the first period, that will have to be cleaned up, but the team defense has been excellent recently. There have been very few odd-man rushes given up by the Americans in recent games. Earlier in the season, that was commonplace. Allen has a very young group of defensemen. Matt Register's 13 years of ECHL experience are more than the rest of the defensemen combined. Having Register behind the bench (home and away) has been a big plus for the Americans.
- I won't get the official lineup until later today, but based on the results on Wednesday, I expect you will see the same lineup tonight as the Wednesday lineup.
- Here are Allen's leading scorers in the four games against Tulsa this season:
- 6 points (4G, 2A) - Brayden Watts
- 6 points (1G, 5A) - Danny Katic
- 3 points (1G, 2A) - Andre Anania
- 3 points (1G, 2A) - Thomas Caron
- Sometimes, home vs road special teams tell a different story than overall percentages. The gaps between Allen and Tulsa are even wider when comparing home and away. Allen's home power play percentage is 9.8% (4-41), Tulsa's road percentage is 17.9% (5-28). Allen's home penalty kill percentage is 91.7% (4-48), Tulsa's road percentage is 69.4% (11-36).
- The game tonight will be a one-referee game. The referee will be Camden (Cam) Fraser (#58). He has never worked an Allen game, from what I can tell. Fraser worked his first pro game (ECHL) last season. The linesmen will be Aaron Schaat (#51) and Michael Miggins (#47).
OTHER COMMENTS
- The Christmas waiver/trade freeze starts on Monday (12/22) at 3:00 p.m. ET. and runs through noon on Friday (12/26). It is always difficult to get waived or traded three days before Christmas, but such is life in the ECHL. A year ago, there were only a handful of players traded or waived just before the deadline, but a lot of NHL/AHL contracted players were recalled or assigned to ECHL teams. Players can be recalled or assigned during the freeze.
- It is a big Friday night around the ECHL with 28 of 30 teams in action. All eight Mountain Division teams are playing.
- Tulsa at Allen
- Utah at Kansas City
- Rapid City at Idaho
- Wichita at Tahoe
Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews: https://echl.com/news/2025/12/echl-today-dec-19
- Some current Allen streaks and stats:
- Marco Costantini has won five straight games.
- Spencer Asuchak has a 3-game point streak, a 2-game goal streak, and the game-winning goal in the last 2 games.
- Colby McAuley has 2 goals, 2 assists in the last 2 games.
- Andre Anania has a 3-game point streak (2G, 2A).
- Sam Sedley has a 5-game point streak (1G, 4A).
- Brayden Watts has a four-game point streak (2G, 4A).
- Michael Gildon has not had a plus/minus in minus territory in the last 10 games.
- Quinn Warmuth has 3 points (2G, 1A) in the last 2 games.
- Here is the game preview issued by the Allen Americans for tonight's Teddy Bear Toss game: https://allenamericans.com/news/2025/12/game-day-teddy-bear-toss-night-in-allen
Is it true players might go on strike?
ReplyDeleteFor what reason?
DeleteMyles issues or lack of CBA?
#1 - you have to be kidding....
#2 - Lack of CBA would have to be league wide.
Shame on both sides to let it come to this. The PHPA should be ashamed of themselves for lack of leadership. Make the players stop work to take care of what you should’ve months ago. Bring back the old leadership & bet this wouldn’t be happening. I’m all for the players getting more & more. But the players shouldn’t have to be doing someone else’s job that makes six figures & is paid by the players themselves.
Deletehttps://phpa.com/site/agreements
DeleteStrike looming AFTER this weekends games.
DeleteCould very well cause a few teams to cease operations.
DeleteThat is beyond disappointing.
How do you figure there is a strike looming?
ReplyDeleteInside sources.
DeleteInfo is 100% accurate.
Actually, public info.
DeleteFACT: Ryan Crelin should be fired for gross incompetency.
ReplyDeleteNew franchise revenue could have assisted and offset costs to enable a new 4 or 5 year CBA. I hope he trips over his fat a$$.
it has become extremely expensive to run an ECHL team. Most teams lose money every season. There are a few in perfect markets like Savannah and Boise that make a profit. Other not so much
Delete