Sorry about the blog post being so late today. I assure you I have been at it since early this morning as usual, but talked to many fans about all kinds of topics, went down the usual rabbit holes researching statistics and sought out the keys to the game from a couple of different perspectives. Here it is at 1:30 pm, sorry about that.
18 Game Challenge Update:
- 8th game in the books
- Last game: 5-2 home loss to Kansas City
- Next game: Kansas City at home tonight
- Record: 1-6-1-0
- Point Percentage: .188
- The Allen Americans lost 5-2 last night to Kansas City in the type of game that has become very familiar to Allen fans when the Mavericks come to the CUTX Event Center. The pattern has been Kansas City scores first, holds Allen scoreless in the first period and the game is over by the first intermission. Last night Kansas City scored three goals in a five minute span in the middle of the first period, took the 3-0 lead into the first intermission and the game was over. The Mavericks improved their record when leading after the first period to 13-0-0-0 while the Americans record when trailing after the first period dropped to 1-10-1-0.
- Kansas City increased its lead to 4-0 with the only goal of the second period. Allen scored two goals in the third period to cut the score to 4-2 but the outcome of the game was never in doubt. Mark Duarte scored Allen's first goal on the power play. It was Duarte's ninth goal in the last 12 games and 10th of the season. Mark is now second on the team in goals behind Brodzinski who has 11. Brayden Guy scored Allen's second goal, his seventh of the season.
- Allen pulled goalie Luke Richardson, who had taken over in relief of Anson Thornton after the first period, with just under two minutes remaining in the game. It took just 11 seconds for Kansas City to score an empty net goal. The empty goal epitomized how well Kansas City handled Allen in the entire game. The puck was shot down the ice by the Mavericks in what was going to be an icing call. However, a Kansas City player (Andreev) gained several strides on two Allen players to waive off the icing and then won the puck battle behind the net against the two Allen players. He chipped the puck to a Maverick's player all alone at the side of the net who poked it in. Here are the video highlights. Pay special attention to the empty net goal at the end of the highlight package (I used the 10 second rewind button many times) and it is emblematic of Allen's struggles. https://echl.com/videos/kansas-city-mavericks-vs-allen-americans-dec-27-2024
- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans with more details about the game: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/12/game-recap-americans-third-period-rally-falls-short-in-loss-to-kc
- The one bright spot in the game was the Americans were able to capitalize on the fact they had better special teams stats than the Mavericks coming into this series. Allen scored a power play goal (1-2) and the penalty kill was 0-2.
- With the loss, Allen's home record is now now 2-7-4-0 (.308) which is the worst home record in the league. Kansas City improved its road record to 14-3-1-0 (.806). The Mavericks have earned 29 road points, seven more than any other teams. One other team has a better road point percentage than Kansas City and that would be Tulsa at .808 (10-2-1-0). Allen has two more home games against Kansas City (plus 5 road games) and five more home games against Tulsa (plus two road games).
- The combined stats in the three games against Kansas City got even uglier when last night's results are included:
- 0-3 - Allen's record against Kansas City.
- 3-0 - Kansas City's record when scoring first against Allen..
- 8 - The number of periods Kansas City held Allen scoreless before allowing a goal.
- 18-2 - Allen's goal disadvantage against Kansas City
- 7-0 - 1st period goal disadvantage
- 6-0 - 2nd period goal disadvantage
- 6-2 - 3rd period goal disadvantage
- 122-59 - Allen's shot disadvantage against Kansas City
- Anson Thornton started in goal, gave up three goals on eight first period shots and was replaced by Luke Richardson. Thornton has been a workhorse since Dylan Wells was recalled to Tucson in the middle of November. Until recently Thornton had played in 13 of 14 games including a couple of three games in three days. He is now #5 in minutes played among all ECHL goalies (990) and is #1 in saves. With Allen allowing the most shots per game in the league, Anson has 566 saves, 67 more saves than #2.
Luke Richardson has done well since arriving in Allen with two relief appearances and two starts. His record is 1-1-0-0 with a GAA of 2.11 and a .926 save percentage. Richardson is obviously the fresher goalie having played in just one game (November 29) from the start of the season until he played in Allen on December 20.
- What will it take for Allen to get a win tonight? Here are some keys to the game:
- Allen has to score the first goal of the game. Kansas City's record when they score first is 15-1-1-1 (.889). That is about as close to unbeatable as you can get.
- Allen has to play with the lead. Kansas City's combined record when the Mavericks have the lead after the first and second period is 25-0-1-0, unbeatable.
- Allen has a better power play (20.3% vs 15.5%) and penalty kill (81.6% vs 77/9%) than the Mavericks. The Americans need to leverage that in their favor tonight.
- For most of Allen's existence as a franchise the culture has been one of making it hard for teams to play against the Americans, especially at home. In those days, if a team scored three unanswered goals in five minutes in the middle of the first period, some one was going to drop the gloves. Push back when being embarrassed or when the opposing teams went after Allen's smaller skill players was a given. Would like to see more of that kind of push back from the Americans.
- I asked assistant coach, Brett Ferguson, to give me his three keys to the game and this is what he had to say:
1. "Keep playing hard. Although the results haven't been where we want them to be, and moral victories don't show up in the standings, our last five games we have been playing the right way. When we get down there is always push back. We haven't been out of the fight."
2. "Limit turnovers. We can't spend unnecessary time in our zone because of puck mistakes. It starts with the breakouts need to be cleaner. Our rushes have to stop killing plays with poor execution off the rush. Against a fast, highly skilled team like KC those equal death."
3. "Capitalize on our chances. Everyone in the building felt the air go out after our push to start the game last night. We had four or five grade A chances and we didn't score. Then KC goes down and scores. We need to bear down and finds ways to score 5-on-5.
- I also asked Maurice Fitzgerald, color analyst on the Allen Americans home game broadcast to give me his three keys to the game. Here is what Mo had to say:
1. "Play more physical and finish checks. When Allen did that last night KC got disrupted and off their rhythm a bit."
2. "Provide better support and win those puck battles. Something Allen wasn't doing in the first two periods."
3. "Have to be quicker on the breakout. KC was running a strong two man forecheck to pressure the defensemen and it caused several turnovers. Get the puck out of the zone quick, but maintain control, don't just dump the puck to the neutral zone because then it is a half ice game where KC retrieves the puck and goes back on attack every time.
- Coach Adams brought along Colin Jacobs and Mark Duarte to talk to the season ticket members after the game. It was a standing room only crowd. Here is what they had to say:
"We have been skating Cole Fraser pretty good in practice but it is different than playing in a game. I thought he played pretty good for his first game in a long time. I will have to watch the video to get the complete picture but thought he played well. He gives us experience and toughness on the blue line.".....Adams
"By adding Jacobs to the roster we have a player with experience who plays center, can kill penalties, is a hard guy to play against, and is a voice in the locker room.".....Adams
"As I continue to shape the identity of the team and my vision of how I want us to be, there is a certain style we want to play and I believe over the last four games we have had some pretty good games even though the results aren't there yet. It is easy for us to deviate away from they way we want to play, but the last four games have been the best group of games, better than when we were winning games.".....Adams
"To be honest, I can't tell you why I have been scoring so much recently. I just go out there and try to work my hardest each and every night. Obviously it has been going my way the last 10 games. I attribute that to my linemates and the team around me.".....Duarte
"As a team we have been playing better and better. Our compete level has been through the roof the last few games and it is showing. Obviously the results haven't been there that we want for you guys and for us. As a team we are all in this together. I think if everyone keeps the work ethic up we will be rewarded as a group..".....Duarte
"Thornton was in a bit of a slump but you have to give him another opportunity. He came back from the break and looked pretty good. He is just fighting it right now. It is probably more of a mental game for him rather than anything else. He has to keep playing to get him out of it and we have to keep working with him.".....Adams.
"It is an honor to play for your hometown team, especially this team. The scoresheet and moral victories don't necessarily mean that much but I feel this team is close. A mistake here or there that goes our way and it is a totally different ballgame.".....Jacobs
"It is easy when things aren't going well to get negative. I try to do my part to stick with a positive attitude and work hard and hopefully other guys jump on board. It is pretty easy to stay positive here because everyone was working hard when I arrived.".....Jacobs
"At the start of the season were weren't getting enough shots. When we are out there competing and working hard, but it is tough when we pass up shots and the puck goes the other way and we have to backcheck. We are shooting a little more now and it is showing on the scoreboard in the shots against and shots for. We have to continue to put pucks on net and good things will happen".....Duarte
"Before the game we talked about being physical especially in their defensive zone. We thought we could be physical on the forecheck and we thought they would turn pucks over and they did.. I would like us to be more decisive and assertive in our defensive zone. At times we are second guessing ourselves.".....Adams
"I am not sure if the third period was our best period. The formula is there. If we can keep getting pucks behind them and get in on our forecheck and get time in the offensive zone we can have success. When you are down 4-0 you are starting to cheat the game a little bit to score so your game changes.".....Adams
"I am waiting to see who emerges before I name a captain. We have made some roster moves and we have a lot of guys that can be leaders on the team. I know it is really important to the fans that we have a captain, but to the guys in the locker room it is not that important. I could give the "C" to a bunch of different guys right now, but I am waiting for the right opportunity.".....Adams
LINEUP TONIGHT
- Luke Richardson will get the start in goal and James Hardie will be back in the lineup after missing the last seven games with an injury
(F)
#14 Guy-#8 Duarte-#92 Watts
#9 Isaacson-#26 Asuchak-#16 Crnkovic
#86 Hardie-#17 Jacobs-#22 Brodzinski
#24 Blaisdell-#42 Baillageron-#28 Chambers
(D)
#44 Orzeck-#3 Gagnon
#5 Wilson-#2 Warmuth
#23 Brassard-#82 Fraser
(G)
#33 Richardson
#35 Thornton (backup)
OTHER COMMENTS
- The Mountain Division winners last night were Wichita, Rapid City, Kansas City and Tulsa. Here are the standings which continue to show a strong top five with the bottom three out of playoff contention. Points are in parenthesis:
- .696 - Kansas City (39)
- .667 - Tulsa (36)
- .648 - Tahoe (35)
- .589 - Idaho (33)
- .586 - Wichita (34)
- .389 - Allen (21)
- .375 - Rapid City (21)
- .315 - Utah
- There are another 14 games on tap
tonight in the ECHL with all the Mountain Division teams having rematches from last night:
- Kansas City at Allen
- Idaho at Wichita
- Rapid City at Utah
- Tulsa at Tahoe
Here is the ECHL Today with previews on all 14 games: https://echl.com/news/2024/12/echl-today-dec-28
- If you are a season ticket member (STM) and attended the game last night you noticed the changes implemented by the team based on the input you provided to Jonny Mydra last week. If you were not at the game last night, one of the suggestions that was implemented was having a bartender in the STM Lounge. You can avoid the lines on the concourse, but even if there isn't a line, I encourage you support the service in the STM Lounge by buying your beer, sodas and water in the lounge.
DID YOU KNOW: Easton Brodzinski makes the ECHL top five list on percentage of his team's goals.
ECHL players with the highest percentage of their team’s goals. The team’s point percentage is in parenthesis. This stat shows it isn’t necessarily a good thing to have one player with a high percentage of the team goals:
24.4% - Anthony Repaci, Worcester (.397)
19.0% - Cade Borchardt, Kansas City (.696)
17.3% - Cam Hausinger, Indy (.521)
16.7% - Easton Brodzinski, Allen (.389)
16.7% - Chas Sharpe, Cincinnati (.269)
Repaci’s 24.4% is higher than the NHL leaders:
21.6% - Draisaitl, Edmonton
21.5% - Kaprizov, Minnesota
20.4% - Nylander, Toronto
