Allen Ties series 1-1, Martinson & Matvichuk Post Game Comments, Coach's Bunny Sweater Picture

Allen beat Quad City last night 2-0 in a game that wasn't decided until Brian McMillin bounced a pass off the boards to Spencer Asuchak who scored an empty net goal with 17 seconds left in the game. After a scoreless first two periods Allen finally got on the scoreboard at 7:43 of the third period as Bruce Graham was parked in front of the net and a shot from the point by Tyler Ludwig bounced off Graham and into the net. Bryan Pitton stopped all 23 Mallard shots to record a shutout and send an Easter day crowd of 3742 home happy. The series continues with game three in Quad City on Wednesday.

Greger Hanson goes airborne trying to reach the puck - photo by SceneByKimberly.com

Coaches Post Game Comments:

- Bryan Pitton played great tonight and that was a big boost for the team. We have become accustomed to his playing that way in the playoffs. Quad City is a hard working team and they don't give you much in their end of the ice.

- Our power play was not effective again tonight going 0-3 so we will have to improve in that area going forward. We are not doing the things we need to do to be successful on the power play.

- The defense played much better in moving the puck and they didn't pinch when they weren't supposed to. We had a couple of problems on the penalty kill but overall it was a good effort.

- We played better tonight than we did on Friday but we need to play even better in Quad City. We can still shoot the puck better than we have in the first two games. We have some guys on the mend and we will be healthier on Wednesday.

- I felt we had the better chances in the game tonight but their goalie played really well. Overall, we outplayed them and deserved to win the game tonight.

- Kale Kerbashian gets his cast off tomorrow (Monday) and will make the trip to Quad City. Not sure if he will be ready on Wednesday but he should play soon.

- We will not practice tomorrow. We will leave tomorrow night (around 9:00 pm) and then practice Tuesday in Quad City.

OTHER COMMENTS:

- Steve Martinson made his pregame speech all decked out in his Easter sweater complete with bunnies and flowers. He now will have to wear that sweater on the road to keep the winning streak alive. Who says the coach doesn't have a sense of humor. He could not however, make himself wear the sweater during the game.




- The three stars of the game were #1 Bruce Graham, #2 Bryan Pitton, & #3 Quad City goalie Thomas Heemskerk.

- Allen's power play ranks #2 in the playoffs at 24.00% and the Americans are also #2 on the penalty kill at 90.32%.

Courtesy CHL Memes

DID YOU KNOW: Bryan Pitton's shutout was just the third playoff shutout in team history. Last year Aaron Dell shutout Denver 4-0 in game four of a series they won in five games. In 2012 Rejean Beauchemin shut out the Texas Brahmas 5-0 in the first game of the playoffs only to have the Brahmas come back and win the series in six games.