When your goalie stops 34 of 36 shots for a .944 save percentage you generally have a good chance of winning but not when you can't put the puck in the net. That is what happened to the Allen Americans last night as they lost to the Tulsa Oilers 2-0 before a crowd of 4846 at the BOK Center.
- One game after scoring the most goals (5) they have scored in over two months the Americans were shutout for the fifth time this season. The loss was typical of many of the 29 losses Allen has suffered this season. They gave up the first goal which they have done in 28 of 38 games, they were outshot (36-31), they didn't score a power play goal (0-3), gave up a power play goal (1-4), took more penalties (6-4) and had more penalty minutes (20-8) than Tulsa.
- Allen has played Tulsa six times this season and lost five times. The Americans have scored only seven even strength goals in the six games (1.17 per game). No matter how well you play defensively you are not going to win very many games with offensive production like that.
- Here are two versions/recaps of the game.
Allen Americans game recap: https://allenamericans.com/oilers-blank-americans-2-0-2/
Tulsa Oilers game recap: https://tulsaoilers.com/oilers-blank-allen-to-open-2019/
- Here are the video highlights where you can see the defensive breakdowns on the two Tulsa goals. Notice on the second goal how long the Tulsa player (Tesink) stands by the side of the goal uncovered.
- The Americans headed back to Allen immediately after the game and will not play again until the Wichita Thunder visit the Allen Event Center next Friday. The team has had few practice days over the last month. Not the case this week as they will have plenty of time to practice.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Now that the Americans have traded Olivier Archambault's ECHL rights to Orlando they have two players on loan to AHL teams. Rookie defenseman Alex Breton is in Belleville and has been a healthy scratch twice. His team plays again tonight so hopefully he gets to play. Newly acquired defenseman Etienne Boutet is on loan to Stockton and has also been a healthy scratch the last two games. Stockton plays at home tonight against Colorado. Would be nice to have both players back in Allen if they aren't going to play.
- Between injuries and loans to the AHL, Allen has not had a full group of seven defensemen for a long time. Josh Atkinson returned to the lineup last night but Mike Gunn did not play. Mike has been playing with an injury that will require surgery and he might now be out of the lineup long term. Add Garrett Clarke who is injured along with Breton and Boutet in the AHL and the Americans may be playing with just five defensemen for a while.
- Rapid City has lost five in a row and Wichita has lost four in a row to join Allen as the teams that would not make the playoffs if they started today. Here are the current Mountain Division standings based on winning percentage. The gap between the top four and the bottom three continues to grow.
.677 - Utah
.641 - Idaho
.594 - Kansas City
.588 - Tulsa
.514 - Wichita
.458 - Rapid City
.270 - Allen
- The 2-0 loss to Tulsa last night was the fifth time Allen has been shutout this season and they have only played 38 games. The total number of times the Americans were shutout in their first three seasons in the ECHL (2014-17) was five.
- Over the last 10 games the hottest team in the ECHL is Idaho (8-2-0-0) and the coldest team in the ECHL is Worcester (2-7-0-1).
- The "Where Are They Now" series continues tomorrow as I will catch up with defenseman Kevin Young, who was a member of the Allen Americans 2015 Kelly Cup championship team.
DID YOU KNOW: I heard Tommy Daniels mention on his broadcast last night that Spencer Asuchak is 11 goals away from becoming the all-time Allen goals scorer. Chad Costello and Greger Hanson are the leaders with 98 career goals. Here are more details as Asuchak climbs the all-time list in many categories:
Games - Spencer is already #1 all time (268) and is now 21 games ahead of #2 (Tyler Ludwig).
Goals - Spencer is currently #5 all-time with 88 goals. He needs four goals to pass #4 (Gary Steffes), 10 goals to pass #3 (Bruce Graham) and 11 goals to make #1.
Assists - Spencer is #3 all time with 133 assists and needs just six more to pass #2 (Bruce Graham). He will probably have to play another six seasons if he plans to catch #1, Chad Costello with 252 assists.
Total Points - Spencer is #4 all time with 221 points. He will be #2 soon as he needs five points to pass #3 (Greger Hanson) and 15 points to pass #2 (Bruce Graham). It will be a long slog to get to #1 which is Chad Costello with 350 points.
PIMS - Spencer doesn't take a lot of penalties but longevity has him #5 all time with 285 penalty minutes. He needs 36 penalty minutes to catch #4 (Trevor Hendrikx) and 41 minutes to catch #3 (Bryan Moore). #1 all time is Garrett Clarke with 487 PIMS.
If we are so short on defense men, why aren't we pulling up someone from the SPHL? I see many transactions from teams doing so this year. If we aen't getting help from our affiliate then we just need not have one.
ReplyDelete