The Allen Americans blew a 2-0 lead, a 4-2 lead, gave up the last three goals of the game and had to settle for a 5-4 overtime loss in Tulsa last night. To make matters worse the Tulsa game winning overtime goal was a power play goal because of a too many men on the ice penalty to Allen.
- If you are an optimist you can say Allen earned a point and went 1-1-1-0 in the three games in Tulsa. If you are a pessimist you can say after a great 5-0 shutout win by the Americans on Friday night they self-destructed on Saturday and Sunday being out shot 73-40 and losing two games they could have won.
- If you are an optimist you can say Allen has earned a point in four of their last five games. If you are a pessimist you can say Allen has lost four of their last five games.
- Despite having a two goal lead twice in the game (2-0 & 4-2) the Americans were fortunate to come away with a point. For the second straight game the Americans could only manage 20 shots on goal. Other than an 18 shot performance in a 4-0 shutout loss in Utah back in November, these are the two lowest shot totals all season. Allen allowed more shots to Tulsa in the second period (20) than the Americans garnered in the entire game.
- Allen lost the special teams battle for the first time in nine games. The Americans did manage a power play goal (1-4) but were bettered by Tulsa who was 2-6 on the power play. The killer was the overtime (4-on-3) power play goal after Allen took a too many men on the ice penalty.
- Goal scorers for Allen were Riley Bourbonnais (11), Dante Salituro (10), Zach Pochiro (25) and Braylon Shmyr (13).
- Here is the game recap issued by the Tulsa Oilers: https://tulsaoilers.com/tulsa-battles-back-to-beat-allen-in-overtime/
- Here are the video highlights with all of the goals:
STEVE MARTINSON'S POST GAME COMMENTS
- We turned the clock back tonight. We fell back into the bad habit of turning pucks over and not getting pucks in deep.
- Tulsa had more set breakouts than I remember a team having against us in a long time. There was a lack of work ethic by a lot of players tonight.
- We had a mix up on the rotation in overtime that resulted in the too many men penalty which resulted in the game winning goal.
- Dalton Thrower is on crutches and will be out a while.
- With all of the injuries, Josh Thrower returning from Iowa and the addition of new players we have too many players on the roster (27). I have made a trade for future considerations that will be announced on Monday.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Allen now prepares for the first of many home games over the next two months. Despite losing four of their last five games the Americans have earned points in eight of their last nine games. They have lost three of their last five games in overtime and the last two overtime losses have been lost on power play goals.
- Earning one point per game will not be good enough if the Americans want to move up in the standings. They will have to put long winning streaks together in their last 25 games of the season. When you consider they have just two winning streaks longer than one game all season this will be a difficult task. Allen had a two game win streak back on October and a four game win streak the beginning of January and that is it. The Americans will need around 44 points in the final 25 games to make the playoffs. That leaves very little room for error.
- Dante Salituro had a goal and assist in the game last night and has at least one assist in the last seven games. In those seven games he has 11 points (3G, 8A).
- Allen played the game last night with just five defensemen. Etienne Boutet and Dalton Thrower missed the game with injuries.
- It was no surprise that Tulsa's Charlie Sampair got the game winning goal last night. Sampair leads the ECHL in game winning goals with seven. Even more impressive is Sampair has the game winning goal in six of Tulsa's last 12 wins.
- The games against Idaho this week (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday) will be interesting to follow since there is unfinished business remaining from the recent series in Idaho. Allen will be missing Emerson Clark and Curt Gogol on Wednesday as they will be serving the last game of their five game suspension. Idaho will be missing Kale Kessy for all three games as he is serving a 10 game suspension he received for his actions in a game against Allen. Kessy leads the ECHL in penalty minutes with 263 which is 99 minutes more than anyone else. It will be interesting to see how tough Idaho is with Kessy out of the lineup along with Clark and Gogol back in the line up for Allen.
- Here is a story about Miles Liberati and his brother, Mario. Mario recently began working for a startup hockey player management company and now represents Miles. https://triblive.com/sports/otherlocal/14550575-74/cheswicks-liberati-brothers-hope-to-climb-hockey-ranks-together
- C.J. Motte has started 17 straight games for the Americans. Despite spending a month with the Iowa Wild (AHL), C.J. is second in the ECHL in minutes (1734), saves (969) and shutouts (3).
- The Central Division continues to dominate the Mountain Division in inter-divisional play. There is not a single Central Division team that has a losing record against a Mountain Division team. The Central Division's combined record against the Mountain Division is 25-8-1-4. Could this be the season the Western Conference Kelly Cup finalist comes from the Central Division?
- I have four FREE premium level club tickets (second level) for the Allen game on Wednesday (January 30 at 7:05 pm) against Idaho. I will have a drawing for the tickets tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon, notify the winner and leave the tickets at will call. If you are interested let me know by email (janssenfamily@msn.com). All I need is your name and whether you are interested in two or four tickets. The tickets are on the upper level in the end of the rink where the Zamboni enters the ice. Good luck!
DID YOU KNOW: The top team in the Mountain Division (Idaho) has the lowest winning percentage of any of the ECHL division leaders. Here is the winning percentage for the top team in each division.
.756 - South Division (Florida)
.732 - Central Division (Cincinnati)
.690 - North Division (Newfoundland)
.663 - Mountain Division (Idaho)
I just don't understand giving up so many shots. Our power play this weekend seemed to take a break. A goal or two from the power play could have made 3 wins instead of 1-1-1.
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