- It was timely scoring indeed for the Americans as Spencer Asuchak scored his 21st goal of the season with 14 seconds remaining in the first period. Allen has played Indy four times this season, scored the first goal in all four games and won all four games. Allen got their second goal 55 seconds into the second period as Zach Hall, playing in his first game since January 20, scored his seventh goal of the season. The Americans took a 3-0 lead when Greger Hanson scored his 29th goal of the season just 26 seconds into the third period. It was a power play goal and for Greger it was his league leading 12th power play goal of the season.
- It looked like Riley Gill was headed for his league leading sixth shutout of the season until defensive lapses allowed Indy two goals late in the third period. Indy out shot Allen 10-4 in the period and had a chance to tie the score after they pulled their goalie. The Americans hung on for the 3-2 win.
- Here is the Indy Fuel take on the game: https://www.indyfuelhockey.com/fuel-stage-late-push-drop-game-one-in-allen
- Here is the Allen press release on the game which includes a quote from the #1 star, Greger Hanson: https://allenamericans.com/americans-hold-on-for-3-2-win-over-indy/
- The highlight package is posted on ECHL Rewind and includes all five goals. Notice the great passes that led to all three Allen goals. Costello to Asuchak on the first goal, Moore to Hall on the second and Costello to Hanson on the third. Also notice on the Indy goals how Gill is left unprotected with several Fuel players wide open in front of the net. http://www.echl.com/
- The teams have the day off today (the Americans will have an optional skate) and resume play again on Friday night.
COACH'S CORNER
- Here is the pregame interview with Tom Manning and coach Martinson:
- Here are Steve Martinson's post game comments:
- I know we won but I feel like we lost. Gill was in great position to get a shutout and apparently that wasn't on the mind of the three forwards that were on the ice. That is some of the worse defensive play you will see.
- We made so many defensive mistakes until Indy finally had a wide open net. Then on the power play goal they had us three on one in front of the net.
- We talked between periods about getting a power play goal on the five-on-three to start the third and then holding them to six shots. We got the power play goal but the idea of holding them to six shots went out the window. I don't think everyone bought into that.
- I will show the video of the last couple of plays to everyone on the team tomorrow. If we want to beat the good teams we can't play bad defensively like we did tonight.
- I will go through the tape and count but we had way to many turnovers at the blue line. Veteran guys did it and young guys did it. We had way too many weak plays at the blue line.
- We have guys cheating trying to get behind their defensmen and you don't have to do that. Our line rushes through the neutral zone weren't very good and we had a lot of offsides.
- I don't think we had enough guys going to the net tonight. I don't think we had good center drive. Several times the puck was going to the net and we had guys go behind the net.
- I thought Stevenson did a great job playing defense. The last five minutes I moved him up to forward because it seemed like we had forwards that didn't care about getting scored on. He did a great job playing defense, creating some offense and making some plays on the breakout.
- Josh Brittain is being loaned to the Chicago Wolves (AHL) this weekend as they play two games against Texas.
OTHER COMMENTS
- With the win last night Allen now has 70 points and is alone atop the Mountain Division and Western Conference. Florida beat Orlando in overtime last night and is the only team in the league with more points than the Americans. Florida has 71 points.
- Allen is in good shape when you look at points but that is a bit misleading because the Americans have played more games (53) than any other team in the league. If you look at winning percentage Allen is fifth in the ECHL at .660.
- Chad Costello had two more assists last night and now has 97 points (28 goals 69 assists) and a 35 point lead in the ECHL scoring race. Chad has at least two points in nine straight games. In the last nine games he is averaging 2.67 points per game.
- Greger Hanson had a goal and an assist last night to extend his point scoring streak to seven games. In those seven games Hanson is averaging 2.14 points per game. He is now second in the ECHL scoring race with 62 points (28 goals 33 assists).
- Congrats to Gerald Bates, Adam Leavitt, Justin Wagner, Rebecca Lowrey and Jeff Colvin who all won tickets for Allen games this weekend. If you didn't win keep entering the drawings as there will be plenty more free tickets in the future. A special thanks to season ticket holder Rich Brown and the Heritage Ranch fan club for donating tickets for the drawing.
PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Here are a few of my favorite photos from the game last night courtesy of Dianne Webster:
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| Let's get this party started |
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| Zach Hall scores in first game back in a month |
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| Defenseman Dyson Stevenson clears the puck |
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| The "Swedish Sniper" puts it in the back of the net on one knee |
DID YOU KNOW: The best way to look at ECHL standings is to look at winning percentage because of the varying number of games played by each team. Allen and Tulsa have played 53 games while Wichita has played only 46. Here are the top ten teams in the ECHL by winning percentage:
.755 - Florida
.719 - Toledo
.680 - Colorado
.673 - Manchester
.660 - Allen
.635 - Fort Wayne
.625 - Adirondack
.622 - Reading
.615 - Brampton
.612 - Quad City
What exactly is "timely" scoring? Sorry - I just don't understand that - 3 goals in the first 30 minutes of the game are 3 goals regardless of when they are scored. 2 goals in the last 2-3 minutes of the game are pathetic - period.
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