The Norfolk Admirals scored two goals on their first five shots last night, and that is all it took to defeat the Allen Americans 2-1 before a small crowd of 2864 at the CUTX Event Center. Allen has one of the most potent offenses in the ECHL, averaging 3.6 goals per game, but managed to score just one third-period goal on 29 shots last night. The Americans have scored seven goals over the previous three games, a 2.33 goals per game average. That is a far cry from the 5.16 goals per game Allen averaged over its six-game win streak in January.
- Allen's loan goal was scored with an extra man on a delayed penalty at 8:36 of the third period. Danny Katic took a pass from Hank Crone right at the goal mouth and stuffed it home for his 20th goal of the season. Katic is one of six ECHL players with 20+ goals, and remember, he missed 10 games when he was called up to Belleville.
- Allen had a streak of scoring power-play goals in 14 of 15 games from December 13 to January 17. Since that time, the Americans have been blanked on the power play in four of six games, including the last two games. The Americans lost all four games when they didn't score a power-play goal. Over the last six games, Allen's power play percentage is 11.8% (2-17).
- Losing 2-1 last night is the first time all season Allen has allowed two or fewer goals and lost a game in regulation. The Americans did lose 2-1 in overtime earlier in the season.
- Here are the game recaps from both teams and the video highlights:
- Allen Americans - "Americans Lose Tight Battle" - https://allenamericans.com/news/2026/02/americans-lose-tight-battle
- Norfolk Admirals - "Norfolk Back in the Win Column with Road Victory over Allen" - https://norfolkadmirals.com/news/2026/02/norfolk-back-in-the-win-column-with-road-victory-over-allen
- Video Highlights: https://echl.com/videos/norfolk-admirals-vs-allen-americans-feb-4-2026
- Allen gave up the first goal last night for the 23rd time in 42 games (55%). The Americans' record when giving up the first goal has fallen to 8-14-1-0 (.370). The Allen record when scoring first is 14-2-3-0 (.816).
- When this seven-game homestand began last week against Rapid City, I said the goal was to win five of the seven games, if the Americans want to call the homestand a success. Four games in, their record is 2-2-0-0. That means to meet the goal, the Americans must win both games this weekend against Norfolk and then beat Wichita next Wednesday. Certainly doable.
COACH MARTINSON'S POST-GAME COMMENTS
"I thought Norfolk skated hard and played hard. On their first goal, we give up an odd-man rush. What is frustrating from my standpoint is that we have been working on that play in practice. We have been scored on by that play in the first period in the three games recently."
"I don't know if you heard it tonight, but one of the things we are trying to do more of is communicate on the ice. The back checkers and centers need to call it out, and the defensemen need to call out who has who."
"The one power play we had all kinds of chances and were just missing. Then our defenseman got tripped behind the net, and Norfolk came down the ice against two forwards playing defense. They throw the puck at the net with a guy in front who tips it in. That is why you throw pucks at the net."
"Sometimes we are trying to be too fancy, rather than throwing pucks at the net. We have gone from scoring a lot of goals to not enough goals."
"Norfolk competed hard, and once they got the lead, they trapped a lot and didn't give us much time or space, and stayed disciplined."
"It is hockey 101; if a team is not letting you make plays, you have to get pucks to the net with two guys in front. We weren't doing that. We finally did it and got the goal by Katic."
"The game on Friday is a huge game for us. We have a couple of AHL guys coming in over the weekend to look at players. We need to get back up on the horse and start winning again."
OTHER COMMENTS
- Kansas City and Idaho won last night and are distancing themselves from the rest of the Mountain Division. Tahoe got beaten at home 9-6 by Utah. If the Americans don't get going soon, the odds of home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs will be down to zero. Here are the standings by points and points percentage:
- 66 points - Kansas City (.786)
- 61 points - Idaho (.709)
- 50 points - Tahoe (.568)
- 48 points - Allen (.571)
- 41 points - Wichita (.513)
- 39 points - Rapid City (.464)
- 36 points - Utah (.419)
- 26 points - Tulsa (.325)
How difficult will it be for Allen to overtake Idaho for second place? If Idaho plays .500 hockey the rest of the season, the Americans will need a record of 21-8-1-0 (.717) over their last 30 games to pass the Steelheads.
- Inconsistency has been an issue for Allen over much of the season, especially defensively. While all of the goalies have had some bad games, goaltending has been a strength for Allen. Here are the stats for the three goalies:
- Save Percentage
- .920 - Parsons
- .915 - Costantini
- .912 - Tendeck
- GAA
- 2.61 - Parsons
- 2.99 - Costantini
- 3.40 - Tendeck
- Games Played
- 23 - Costantini
- 16 - Tendeck
- 7 - Parsons
- Record
- 13-6-3-0 - Costantini
- 7-6-0-0 - Tendeck
- 2-4-1-0 - Parsons
- Shutouts
- 2 - Tendeck
- 1 - Parsons
- 1 - Costantini
- Jake Chiasson has played in four games since being assigned by Belleville and has a point in all four (1G, 3A). Six players have a points per game average of 0.83 and above this season:
- 1.06 - Danny Katic
- 1.00 - Brayden Watts
- 1.00 - Jake Chiasson
- 0.93 - Hank Crone
- 0.86 - Sam Sedley
- 0.83 - Colton Hargrove
- Six Allen players have plus/minus stats greater than +3.
- +15: Sam Sedley
- +10: Colton Hargrove
- +10: Andre Anania
- +9: Ty Prefontaine
- +7: Danny Katic
- +7: Michael Gildon
- Six ECHL players have reached the 20-goal mark thus far. Here is the list sorted by average goals per game. If you read the blog yesterday, you know it is no surprise that all six 20+ ECHL goal scorers are from the Western Conference, and five of the six are from the Mountain Division:
- .658 - Brendan Hoffmann, Idaho
- .625 - Danny Katic, Allen
- .575 - Brandon Hawkins, Toledo
- .535 - Reed Lebster, Utah
- .500 - Kyle Crnkovic. Wichita
- .477 - Devon Paliani. Tahoe

