The Allen Americans finished their three game weekend sweep of the Wichita Thunder in grand style yesterday by beating the Thunder 8-3 before a crowd of 3803 at Intrust Bank Arena. It is difficult to know where to start in describing this game and this weekend.
THE GAME
- Allen scored 109 seconds into the game on a power play goal by Dante Salituro.
- Allen added two more goals (Mitch Maloney & Braylon Shmyr) in the next 150 seconds so at the 3:39 mark of the first period Allen had a 3-0 lead.
- The Americans added two more goals (Riley Bourbonnais & Mitch Maloney) in the first period to take a 5-0 lead into the first intermission.
- The onslaught continued with a David Makowski power play goal 48 seconds into the second period.
- Allen scored two more goals (Chase Lang & Zach Pochiro) before the second period was half over to give Allen a 8-0 lead.
- Wichita broke up the shutout in the second period, the only goal allowed by goalie C.J. Motte. Backup goalie Kyle Hayton played the third period when Wichita peppered the Allen net with shots and scored twice to make the final score 8-3. In two periods C.J. Motte faced 14 shots and in one period Kyle Hayton faced 15 shots.
- Allen was 4-7 (57.1%) on the power play while holding Wichita scoreless in their three power play opportunities.
- One of the most encouraging things about the game was the fact that seven different players scored goals with Mitch Maloney getting two goals. The last time Allen had seven different players score goals in a game was last March 10th in Utah. The last time Allen scored eight goals in a game was the season opener last year (October 13, 2017) in Rapid City.
- I find it ironic that Wichita signed a player for the two games against Allen that had played in eight games in the last nine seasons. Add in the two games this weekend and Ryan Jasinksy has 10 pro games since the 2009-10 season with no points and 152 penalty minutes. He has played three games this season in the Federal Hockey League. It is hard to see how this is any different than the Americans signing Alex Penner the last time Wichita was visiting Allen. The only difference is Penner had 103 ECHL games, 169 CHL games and eight AHL games to his credit and is better known than Jasinsky. Hats off to Curt Gogol who fought Jasinsky in both games despite giving up two inches and 25 pounds to Jasinsky. Last night Curt stuck up for his teammate (Adam Miller) after a cheap shot slash.
- Here are the video highlights of the goals and Gogol's fight. The goal scorers again were Salituro (8), Maloney (5), Shmyr (9), Bourbonnais (8), Maloney (6), Makowski (7), Lang (4) and Pochiro (22).
THE WEEKEND
- The difference between success and failure in professional hockey is a fine line and you wonder how a team goes from struggling to score goals to what happened this weekend. Let's start with the three game totals in Allen's sweep of Wichita.
Goals - Allen outscored Wichita 19-9
Shots - Allen out shot Wichita 102-90
Power Play - Allen was 7-15 (46.7%), Wichita was 0-10 (00.0%)
Penalties - Allen had 22 infractions, Wichita had 27
Penalty Minutes - Allen had 61, Wichita had 97
Shooting Percentage - Allen 18.6%, Wichita 10%
- Allen scored the last four goals in their 4-3 comeback win on Saturday and followed that up with the first eight goals on Sunday. It is not in the record book but scoring 12 unanswered goals has to be an Allen record. It was over two games but Allen outscored Wichita 12-0 and the 12 goals were scored in just over 51 minutes. Now that is dominance!
- It is not really a surprise that Allen would break out of their season long slump against Wichita as Allen has had their way with the Thunder ever since they beat them for the CHL championship back in 2013. The Americans are last in the Mountain Division with 26 points but if you look at where they have accumulated the 26 points you will find 12 were earned in games against Wichita. That means 46% of Allen's points this season came against Wichita. Allen's record against the Thunder this season is 5-2-0-2 and since joining the ECHL the record now stands at 44-12-4-5.
- It was a great weekend for Mitch Maloney against this old team. Maloney came to Allen as the second player along with Gregg Chase in the trade that sent Eric Roy to Wichita. Chase was later traded to Maine for Riley Bourbonnais. In 20 games since joining the Americans Maloney had just one goal prior to this weekend against Wichita. Mitch torched his old team with a goal on Friday and Saturday and two on Sunday. I would say that is playing with a chip on your shoulder.
- Nine different players scored goals this weekend lead by Zach Pochiro with five and Mitch Maloney with four. With his five goals Pochiro now leads the ECHL in goals scored with 22.
- Allen scored 19 goals in the three games against Wichita this weekend for an average of 6.33 per game. That is a dramatic increase when you consider how hard it has been for the Americans to score this season. Here is a comparison. Allen just scored 19 goals in three games in three days. Earlier in the season the Americans played 10 games over a three week period (November 3-24) and scored a total of 19 goals.
- Team owner Jack Gulati was in town the past week and met with players and staff. He also accompanied the team for the two games in Wichita. After the success the team had the last three games maybe Jack needs to come to Allen more often.
OTHER COMMENTS
- There is no doubt Allen had a great weekend in winning three straight games for first time this season. It is worth noting Wichita has a lot of players missing and have lost eight straight games. The Americans will have to continue their improved play over the next six games which are on the road against Idaho and Tulsa to declare a turnaround. Tulsa and Idaho are the top two teams in the division over the last 10 games and are both tough to beat at home. Allen will fly to Idaho tomorrow and play the Steelheads on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
- Allen's power play has started to improve recently. The Americans have a power play goal in five of their last six games and over that period are 9-23 (39.1%). They have moved up to #8 in the ECHL with a power play percentage of 18.7%.
- Allen tied a couple of ECHL season highs last night. The Americans four power play goals is tied for the most in the league this season and their five first period goals is tied for the most goals scored in the first period in the ECHL this season.
- It is just a start but Allen's winning percentage is up to .317 and they have closed the gap to get out of the cellar in the division to nine points.
- The countdown to Steve Martinson's 1000th win got a big boost this weekend. Martinson is now at 990 wins.
Allen's improved play recently is a combination of better offense and better defense. The Americans are 5-2 over their last seven games and have not allowed more than three goals in any of the seven games. The Americans scored four or more goals in all five wins.
DID YOU KNOW: The Florida Everblades are the best team in the ECHL in points (57) and winning percentage (.750) but they started the season losing seven of their first 12 games. Since that time (November 16) Florida's record is 21-2-3-0.
I am so happy for the team with the performance they had this weekend. The win on Friday I am sure boosted their confidence and moral. You could see that carry through to the games in Kansas on Saturday and Sunday. They played a full 60 minutes of hockey each night and that resulted in success.
ReplyDeleteI hope that the momentum keeps going as they head to Idaho to face the fish team.
I will be watching as we play on the road...Let's Go RED!
A win is a win, but you are right, Wichita is playing without a LOT of players.
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