Losing Streak Hits Seven With Shootout Loss, Game Recap, Martinson's Comments, Comparing This Season to Last, Blowing Leads at Home and More

The Allen Americans managed to end a streak of six straight regulation losses with a 5-4 shootout loss in Wichita last night. In the process Allen set a franchise record for consecutive losses which is now at seven and counting.


- The odds were stacked against the Americans as they were playing their third game in 48 hours and had to bus all night to get to Wichita, arriving around 5:00 am. The Thunder on the other hand had the night off on Saturday. Allen had some good news as Braylon Shmyr returned from his AHL call up but the Americans still had to play shorthanded. David Makowski was serving a one game suspension for a major slashing penalty in the game on Saturday and Zach Pochiro stayed home with an upper body injury.


- Even with the obstacles Allen acquitted themselves quite well in the game. Here are a few of the positives:

Allen got off to a fast start scoring the first goal of the game at 4:35 of the opening period.
Allen had at least one goal in all three periods.
Allen outshot Wichita 40-38.
Shots by period were15-9 in the first period, 9-9 in the second and 13-11 in the third.
Allen took fewer penalties (5) than Wichita (7).
Allen was 2/6 on the power play, Wichita 1/3.


- With all of the positives the one big negative was Allen could not hold on to the lead. The Americans had leads of 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3. Defensive miscues, which have been a recurring theme all season, kept happening. The goal that sent the game into overtime was scored with 75 seconds remaining in the game.


- Both teams had numerous grade A chances in overtime but were stoned by great goalie play. Allen went 0-3 in the shootout (Shmyr, Salituro, Asuchak). Wichita's second shooter (Greg Chase) scored and that is all it took. Allen's shootout record this season is now 1-2 and their shootout goals scored stands at 22.2% (2-9).


- Goal scorers for Allen were Dante Salituro (5), Pavel Jenys (2), Alexandre Ranger (1) and Thomas Frazee (2).


- Here is the game recap issued by the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/americans-earn-a-point-in-shootout-loss-to-wichita/


- Here is the game recap issued by the Wichita Thunder: https://www.wichitathunder.com/news/press-release/thunder-wins-see-saw-battle-vs-allen.html



STEVE MARTINSON'S POST GAME COMMENTS


- I had the chance to touch base with coach Martinson after the game and while he did say there were some positives to build on from the game he was not happy with the outcome. Here are a few of the printable comments:

"That game was tough to take. We keep shooting ourselves in the foot."

"We keep making avoidable mistakes that lead to goals."

"We are not playing a very intellectual game."

"We are struggling with basic hockey concepts."

"We keep taking dumb penalties and many of them are right in front of the referee."

"Sometimes what is more painful than the actual penalties is the manner we take them. We don't consider where and when we takes penalties. Too many times they are right in front of the referee which adds insult to injury."


- The Americans headed back to Allen immediately after the game. They will have a few days to prepare for two games against Tulsa this weekend. They will play in Allen on Friday and Tulsa on Saturday.



OTHER COMMENTS


- One of the many statistics that are out of the norm for the Americans this season is their record when scoring first. Allen has been one of the best teams in the ECHL when scoring the first goal of the game. The Americans record since joining the ECHL when scoring first (prior to this season) is 127-16-6-5 for a winning percentage of a jaw dropping .820. This season Allen has scored the first goal six times with a record of 3-2-0-1 for a winning percentage of .538.


- It is hard to believe 20% of the season is already in the books for the Allen Americans and the hole they are going to have to dig themselves out of is still getting deeper. Here are the Mountain Division point standings with games played in parentheses:

17 points - Kansas City (10 games played)
17 points - Utah (11 games)
16 points - Tulsa (11 games)
14 points - Rapid City (13 games)
12 points - Idaho (14 games)
11 points - Wichita (10 games)
8 points - Allen (14 games)


- I was asked yesterday to compare the stats from this season to the same time last season. Remember last season the Americans barely made the playoffs. These stats compare this season and last season after 14 games played.

Record: 3-9-0-2 this season compared to 7-4-2-1 last season.
Goals for: Allen has scored 40 goals thus far, last season they had 47 after 14 games.
Goals against: The Americans have allowed 58 goals this season, compared to 40 last season.
Power play %: This season it is 14.9%, last season it was 15.7%.
Penalty kill %: This season it is 84.3%, last season 89.6%.

The goals for and against really stand out. The 2018-19 roster was billed as a very high scoring team but have scored seven fewer goals (40-47) than last season. The defensive woes are very apparent as the Americans have allowed 18 more goals (58-40) this season than last season. If you put goals for and against stats together you can see why the team is in last place. Last season the goal differential was +7 while this season it is -18.


- Braylon Shmyr missed five Allen games while in Springfield (AHL) but still leads the Americans in scoring. Here are the top five:

14 points (7G, 7A) - Braylon Shmyr
13 points (5G, 8A) - Spencer Asuchak
12 points (2G, 10A) - Alex Breton
11 points (7G, 4A) - Zach Pochiro
11 points (5G, 6A) - Dante Salituro


- If you have ever wanted to win a jersey at one of the auctions and were always outbid as the price got too expensive you might want to check out the current jersey auction taking place through the website Live Source. There are a lot of the veterans day specialty jerseys and a few of the pink specialty jerseys up for auction. This auction will end on Tuesday (November 13) at 9:00 pm. You can get more details and download the app here: http://www.livesourceapp.com/

As of this morning there were 21 jerseys with no minimum bid ($250) and another nine with only the $250 minimum bid so many of these should go at relatively inexpensive prices.


- Tomorrow I will post the second of our "Where Are They Now" series and it will be the opportunity to catch up with goalie Chris Whitley. Chris led the first year Allen Americans (2009-10) to the CHL championship finals.
    


DID YOU KNOW: Blowing a lead at home has traditionally been a very unusual event for the Allen Americans. The Americans have lost both games in regulation this season when they had a first period lead. They didn't lose two games in regulation when leading after the first period in either of the last two seasons. Here are the records when leading after the first period at home:

2018-19:   0-2-0-0
2017-18:   12-1-1-0
2016-17:   19-1-1-1