- The Americans scored first, held a 2-1 first intermission lead, scored six goals including a few highlight reel beauties, won the power play battle, held Utah to 31 shots, had fewer penalties than the Grizzlies, entertained two Utah players in the Allen bench and won the only fight of the game. It doesn't get more entertaining than that.
- Allen's offense was led by Alex Guptill who had a hat trick, scoring his 10th, 11th and 12th goals of the season. Guptill's 12 goals (7 in Rapid City, 5 in Allen) ties him for the team lead with Bryan Moore. Olivier Archambault contributed two goals (8 & 9) and Joel Chouinard scored his fifth of the season to round out the scoring.
- After scoring a total of six goals in their previous four games (all losses), it was great to see the team snap the losing streak by scoring six goals.
- ECHL Rewind has a great highlight package with all of the goals plus the activities on the Allen bench and the Josh Thrower fight where he ragdolled Utah's James Melindy. Here is the link: https://www.echl.com/
- Here are the six Allen goals as captured by Sporfie:
Alex Guptill - Alex tips a shot from Bryan Moore that goes off a Utah player and trickles past goalie Kevin Carr. https://sporfie.app.link/FEA2TqVGBJ
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| Goalie Kevin Carr dives for the puck as it trickles across the goal line on Guptill's 1st goal |
Joel Chouinard - Great puck movement on the power play creates a lane for Joel and he buries the puck with Pierro-Zabotel parked in front of the net. https://sporfie.app.link/aL0MFfTHBJ
Olivier Archambault - Allen fans have gotten used to what Olivier can do with the puck. Another example of undressing a couple of defenders. Notice how Eric Roy jumped up on the rush and got the puck to Archambault. https://sporfie.app.link/2XGLFFTKBJ
Alex Guptill - A turnover by Utah in their defensive zone proves costly as Guptill scores his second goal of the game. https://sporfie.app.link/tQWGnT5KBJ
Olivier Archambault - You have to watch this clip several times to appreciate what Olivier does on this play. Fake a shot, fake a pass and slide the puck into a wide open net. As coach Martinson said about this goal after the game, "It isn't anywhere near as easy as he makes it look." https://sporfie.app.link/uPHmqLCMBJ
Alex Guptill - Notice the patience on Guptill's third goal of the night which was a 2 on 1 with Pierro-Zabotel. Alex fakes a pass and the defensman goes to Casey. Guptill buries the puck just inside the goal post. https://sporfie.app.link/ZK6w4Y9NBJ
Bench Celly - This is the bench camera on one of Archambault goals. I think the guys on the bench are impressed with his moves. https://sporfie.app.link/XVFucKTKBJ
POST GAME QUOTES FROM COACHES AND PLAYERS
"A lot of really nice plays in the game tonight that made for entertaining hockey but in some instances we tried to make plays that weren't there and turned the puck over when dumping it in would have been a better choice.".....Steve Martinson
"Archambault has some unbelievably quick hands. I don't ever remember seeing a guy as quick with his feet and his hands in this league. It is fun to watch him play.".....Martinson
"We moved the puck around on the power play really well tonight and could have had a couple of more goals. We had good puck possession and missed a few shots.".....Martinson
"You can't turn the puck over that many times and expect to win a game. We have to play smarter and it starts with taking care of the puck.".....Utah coach Tim Branham
"Once again we out shot the opposition, but we gave up too many scoring opportunities.".....Branham
"We needed this win, it was good to end our losing streak and good to see the offense come to life. We got off to a fast start and never let off the gas.".....Gary Steffes
"We came together as a team and scored on the chances when we had them. It was great to get a win at home. I think this is the start of something special for our team. Can't wait to keep moving forward as a group.".....Bryan Moore
"I think I just had some good chemistry with our line, Moore did a really good job with the puck tonight and Chewy opened up a lot of ice. He was throwing a lot of body out there and worked really hard so it was good to see us get rewarded."....Alex Guptill talking about his hat trick
"We don't necessarily have all the toughest guys in the league, but we have a lot of willing guys and it is nice to see everyone stand up for each other. I think that builds camaraderie and you know it keeps the opponents off our backs if they know everyone is going to come in every single time.".....Guptill
OTHER COMMENTS
- The Americans will leave tomorrow for Tulsa where they will play the Oilers on Friday and Saturday night before returning to Allen to take on the Oilers Monday afternoon (1:05 pm) at the annual MLK day game.
- David Makowski had two assists and was a +4 in the game last night. His plus/minus is now +20 which leads the ECHL in plus/minus for defensemen. He also leads all ECHL defensemen in points per game (1.07). Makowski will play in both games against Tulsa this weekend before he heads to Indianapolis for the All-Star game on Monday afternoon.
- Dalton Thrower has completed his three game suspension and will be back in the lineup this weekend. Coach Martinson confirmed Gary Steffes will be heading back home and his day job after the game on Monday.
- Allen gained no ground in the Mountain Division standings as Colorado, Wichita and Idaho all won last night. Colorado leads the division with 56 points, Idaho and Wichita are tied for second place with 47 points and Allen holds down fourth place with 43 points.
- Casey Pierro-Zabotel had two assists last night and is now tied for the league lead in scoring with 41 points. He also leads the league in assists (31).
- Vincent Arseneau had an assist last night and led the team with a +2 as Utica beat Laval 5-1.
- Here is Steve Martinson's pregame interview with Kayla MaLain:
DID YOU KNOW: Specials team play is such an important key to success and has always been a strength for the Allen Americans. They led their division in power play and penalty kill percentages in 2014-15 and 2015-16. Last season they were they were second in the division in both. Halfway through the 2017-18 season the story is different. Here are the special teams percentages for the Mountain Division. Definitely an area for improvement the last half of the season for the Americans.
Power Play
19.8% - Colorado
19.4% - Idaho
19.0% - Allen
17.8% - Wichita
17.5% - Rapid City
12.4% - Tulsa
12.1% - Utah
Penalty Kill
84.3% - Idaho
83.5% - Colorado
82.9% - Rapid City
82.6% - Wichita
82.0% - Tulsa
81.8% - Allen
80.6% - Utah
Last night after the fight in the players bench area, we were discussing whether or not that should result in suspensions. Not only do you NOT fight in your oppositions bench but it is extremely dangerous with the number of players and equipment back there.
ReplyDeleteAs an observer of hockey Barry, do you think the ECHL will levee fines and suspensions against Howe and Melindy from Utah? They were obviously the aggressors last night during the bench fight.
Having just watched the bench fracas on ECHL.com - very interesting how Zabby literally grabbed Moore around the neck and pushed him down the bench away from the fighting - may have saved Moore-sie from another suspension. Also how Howe did not get an aggressor penalty when he went after Schoenborn is beyond me. Stick taps to Thrower for keeping Melinda (sp) out of the action and finally giving him the payback he deserved.
ReplyDeleteYeah - so much for the "chicken wing" display from Melindy. As has been said before - don't retaliate and take your shots when necessary and appropriate. Kudos to our guys for doing that last night.
DeletePersonally I don't think Thrower should have received a game misconduct. If you watch the video he was consistently trying to pull "Chicken Wing" Melindy out of the ruckus when Melindy decided to fight.