- The Americans hit all the keys to victory. They once again scored the first goal of the game to set the tone and the young guns got the job done for the third straight game. In game one it took just 116 seconds for Braylon Shmyr to get Allen on the scoreboard. In game two it was Jared Bethune and it took only 94 seconds. Last night it was Shmyr again and it took all of 128 seconds.
- The first goal was just the start of Allen's dominance in the game. Allen had the lead after the first period (2-1) and the second period (4-2). With a first period lead Allen's record during the regular season was 21-4-1-0 and with a second period lead it was 25-4-0-1.
- Allen had the only power play goal of the game (five-on-three) and killed four Idaho power play opportunities. Idaho had a slight edge in shots on goal (36-34) but with seven minutes left in the game Allen had a 34-24 shot advantage. With a 5-2 lead Allen went into a defensive mode and Idaho had the last 12 shots of the game.
- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans with quotes from Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Jake Paterson and coach Martinson. https://allenamericans.com/americans-big-second-period-leads-to-game-3-win/
- Here is the game recap from the Idaho Steelheads: http://www.idahosteelheads.com/events/idaho-steelheads-vs-allen-americans-11/#gametab-2
- Goal scorers for Allen were Braylon Shmyr (2), Eric Roy (1), Alex Guptill (1), J.C. Campagna (1), and Zach Pochiro (2). Here are the game highlights from ECHL Rewind: https://www.echl.com/
- Here are the Sporfie highlights for the five Allen goals.
Braylon Shmyr - Watch as Shmyr starts the play with a pass to Makowski and ends the play when Makowski's rebound is tipped by an Idaho player right to Braylon. Shmyr puts it in the open net with the goalie still trying to recover from the Makowski shot. https://sporfie.app.link/4ZysVnjqeM
Eric Roy - This play is started with a faceoff win by Matt Foget. Tristan King passes to the point, the puck goes D-to-D and Eric Roy takes a wrist shot. When I watched this goal live it looked like Foget got a piece of the puck. https://sporfie.app.link/1M2q5NAYeM
Alex Guptill - This is the five-on-three power play goal. Makowski takes the shot from the blue line. Pierro-Zabotel doesn't get an assist on this goal but was screening the goalie. Makowski's rebound goes to Guptill and he puts it in the net. https://sporfie.app.link/8EKlJS3keM
J.C. Campagna - A couple of things to watch on this clip. First is how Zach Pochiro skates away from the defenseman and drags him away from Campagna skating up the right wing and then Zach makes the pass to J.C. Also notice how Gordie Ballhorn crashes the net and knocks Corbin Baldwin down just as Campagna takes the shot. https://sporfie.app.link/kjEVv5PYeM
Zach Pochiro - You can't see it on this clip but Mike Gunn made a nice pass to spring Pochrio who beat the goalie going five hole. https://sporfie.app.link/PaujWKHpeM
STEVE MARTINSON'S COMMENTS
Pregame interview with Kayla McLain:
Post game interview with Kayla McLain:
- I had a chance to talk to Martinson after the game and here are some additional comments:
"We had several more great chances to score tonight."
"Tristan King hasn't had a lot of practice time since were were on the road last week. He did have a couple of practices this week but I was trying to make sure he got the right amount of ice time tonight."
"We had a real nice push in the second period with the power play goal and out shooting them 16-5."
"Everyone is buying into our approach and not trying to do too much. We are doing much better at dumping the puck in rather than trying to carry it in on a low probability play. We are not beating ourselves now."
"The plan for the next game is the same. We don't want to let them back in this. We have to do all of the little things that add up to achieving what we want. All the things we talk about and work on is what we have to execute."
OTHER COMMENTS
- The five minute major penalty Bryan Moore received for elbowing in the first period will certainly be reviewed by the league. Being a repeat offender, Moore will not get the benefit of the doubt from what looked like an elbow to the head. Have to think there is a good chance he will get suspended.
- This series is definitely not over but the odds are certainly in the Americans favor and they are pretty overwhelming. If you take all seven game series from all major sports (MLB, NBA, NHL) there has been 369 times where there has been a 3-0 lead. In all but five (98.6%) the team with the 3-0 series lead went on to win. The odds of winning game four with a 3-0 series lead is about 63%.
- Here is a brief recap of the current status of the ECHL first round playoffs series:
North Division
#1 Adirondack vs #4 Worcester - Adirondack leads the series 3-1 and this is the only first round series where both team have won a game. This has been a very low scoring series with two shutouts and two games where the losing team had just one goal. Game five is Saturday in Adirondack.
#2 Manchester vs #3 Reading - Reading was the first playoff team to be eliminated as they were swept my Manchester. The first two games of this series went to double overtime and the third game was decided in single overtime. Last night the game was closer than the final score of 3-0. The score was 1-0 before Manchester scored two empty net goals in the final 48 seconds of the game. Reading got swept in this series but every game could have gone either way.
South Division
#1 Florida vs #4 Atlanta - Florida is up 2-0 in this series with game three in Atlanta tonight.
#2 South Carolina vs #3 Orlando - Orlando is up 2-0 in this series with the next three games at home. Game three is tonight.
Central Division
#1 Toledo vs #4 Indy -Toledo took a 3-0 lead in this series with a 3-1 win in Indy last night. Toledo can wrap up the series tonight. If needed game five will be in Indy on Saturday.
#2 Fort Wayne vs #3 Cincinnati - Fort Wayne has a 2-0 series lead with the next three games in Cincinnati. Game three is tonight.
Mountain Division
#1 Colorado vs #4 Wichita - Colorado beat the Thunder 4-2 last night to take a 3-0 lead in this series. Wichita built a 2-0 lead early in the second period but could not hang on. The Eagles will have a chance to wrap up the series on Saturday.
#3 Allen vs #2 Idaho - Allen has a 3-0 series lead and will have a chance to sweep Idaho with a win in game four on Friday.
- Several of you contacted me wishing there was a way you could purchase the cancer awareness specialty jersey with loved ones names on the jersey. If you haven't seen the info from the team you can buy one of these jerseys but you need to act quickly. Here are all of the details: https://allenamericans.com/cancerjersey/
DID YOU KNOW: Allen chased Idaho goalie Tomas Sholl last night after they scored their fourth goal in the second period. Since joining the Steelheads in early March Sholl's record is 9-2-1-1 and all four losses have been to Allen. Sholl has only given up only 22 goals in his 13 games but 14 of the goals have been against Allen. Sholl had a regular season save percentage of .953 but the last three times he has faced Allen his save percentage was .800, .826 and .818 and he gave up 13 goals. Would have to expect Idaho will start their NHL contracted goalie, Philippe Derosiers on Friday.
#20, Matt Foget, really caught my eye last night! Always moving his feet and always around the puck.
ReplyDeleteHe has been great!
DeleteIt was great to see 3 FULL periods of exciting, intense Allen Americans hockey last night!!
ReplyDeleteI kept my eye on Dahl last night Barry, was his usual yappy self. The most egregious thing I seen Dahl do was whack the back of Foget's knees while they were both going to bench. I thought that was a real POS move on Dahl's part.
Olympic diving might be in his future!
Deletebarry great stuff as always. the young guys are really providing a spark. funny aside...i sit behind the visitor bench and observed a first. before we ran sholl in the second period derosier requested a different chair to sit on in the bench and one of the linesman DELIVERED it AND carried the old chair away. guess that NHL contract comes with a few perks:) #illtakepaterson
ReplyDeleteHow about the actions of one of the Idaho coaches throwing water bottles onto the ice after the game? Real class act. Fine by the league?
ReplyDeleteGreat to see the guys playing as a team.
Looked at the video on ECHL.com. At the 50 second mark of that video shows the contact between Moore and Merchant. Terrible call, the League has NOTHING to suspend Moore for!
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome
ReplyDeleteLet’s Do This