Doty and Motte Lead Allen to Victory, Game Recap, Martinson's Comments, Rematch Preview, Mountain Division Comers and Goers and More

Last night the Allen Americans extended their point scoring streak to seven games (second longest in the ECHL) with a 5-0 win over the Tulsa Oilers before a crowd of 9106 at the BOK Center. The Americans were led by Jake Doty who scored the first hat trick of his pro career and C.J. Motte who recorded his third shutout of the season.


- Doty came into the game without a goal in his first 28 games with the Americans. Jake scored a goal in each period.  He scored the only goal of the first period, he scored the first two goals of the game and scored his third of the game with 49 seconds remaining. On goal number one Jake took a great pass from Mitch Maloney for a breakaway and put in his own rebound. On his second goal he put in a rebound off a shot from the point and the third goal was a one timer from the top of the circle set up by a pass from Josh Atkinson.


- C.J. Motte stopped 33 shots to earn his third shutout of the season. Two of his three shutouts have come in Tulsa. Motte had a 43 save shutout against the Oilers on November 17  in a 2-0 Allen win. C.J. has a 2-3 record against Tulsa this season but he has stopped 180 of 188 shots for a save percentage of .957.


- Goals scorers for Allen were Doty (1,2,3), Riley Bourbonnais (10) and David Makowski (8).


- Here is the game recap issued by the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/doty-and-motte-lead-allen-over-tulsa/


- Here is the game recap from the Tulsa Oilers: https://tulsaoilers.com/americans-spoil-oilers-homecoming/


- Post game quotes from Steve Martinson:

"Jacob Doty had an outstanding game for us tonight. Obviously we are all excited for him. He has been making some great plays for us and it was good to see him score."

"Doty sees the ice well and has been moving the puck well and making plays. He has been creating offense and made some good seam passes. It was really great to see him get the one timer at the end of the game for the hat trick. It was a fabulous goal with a great shot off a great pass by Atkinson."

"We get Pochiro back for tomorrow night and we have some other players ready to come back in the lineup so we should be able to stay rested and get some fresh legs in the games.

"C.J. Motte made all of the big saves tonight. He has really elevated his game and gives us a great chance to win every game."

"Our defense is stronger with Atkinson back and Boutet added. It is the deepest our defense has been in a while. I think our whole team is committed to playing better defensively and it is showing."

"We just have to keep winning. The good thing is we have a lot a games coming up at home and we get to play a lot of games against teams we have to catch in the standings."



ALLEN VS TULSA GAME TWO PREVIEW

- It is not difficult to figure out why Allen has earned points in seven straight games and have turned their season around. The Americans just need to continue what they have been doing the last seven games. Allen has earned 12 points on a record of 5-0-2-0 over the last seven games. That means 37.5% of their points for the entire season (45 games) have come in the last two weeks in just seven games. Now that is a turnaround.


- Here is why Allen has been successful recently and what they need to do to win tonight.

Score first - Allen has scored first in only 16 of their 45 games but have scored first in five straight games and in six of their last seven.

Goals scored - Allen is ranked #23 in average goals scored per game (2.78). The Americans have averaged 4.57 goals in their last seven games.

Goals allowed - Allen is ranked #24 in average goals allowed per game (3.54). The Americans have allowed and average of 2.57 goals in their last seven games.

Power play - Allen is ranked #12 in power play percentage (18.2%). In the last seven games the Americans power play percentage is 33.3%

Penalty kill - Allen is ranked #13 in penalty kill percentage (83.0%). In the last seven games the Americans penalty kill percentage is 96.4%.

C. J. Motte - In the last seven games C.J. has faced 224 shots and made 208 saves for a save percentage of .929.


- When you look at the stats above it is very easy to see why Allen has earned points in seven straight games. The keys to success is more of the same. If there is anything to improve on it would be the power play which was 0-2 last night. Having Zach Pochiro back in the lineup with his 10 power play goals should help.


- In talking to coach Martinson this morning he said the adjustments he will be discussing with the team are small things related to positioning and supporting the puck.


- The referee scheduled tonight is Sean MacFarlane (#4) and the linesmen will be Chris Provost (#50) and Addison Brush (#80).



OTHER COMMENTS

- The top three teams in the Mountain Division continue to separate themselves and now have a 10 point lead over fourth place. Here is a list of the number of points earned in the last 10 games which shows who is moving forward and who is falling back.

16 points - Idaho
14 points - Allen
14 points - Tulsa
12 points - Utah
7 points - Kansas City
6 points - Wichita
5 points - Rapid City


- All seven Mountain Division teams will be in action tonight. In addition to Allen at Tulsa, Rapid City is at Toledo, Idaho is at Wichita and Utah is at Kansas City. Here are the current Mountain Division standings based on winning percentage with games remaining in parentheses.

.671 - Idaho (31 games remaining)
.650 - Utah (32 games)
.605 - Tulsa (29 games)
.526 - Kansas City (33 games)
.500 - Wichita (30 games)
.432 - Rapid City (28 games)
.356 - Allen (27 games)



DID YOU KNOW: Allen has had three hat tricks this season and allowed just one.

October 19 - Braylon Shmyr scored the first hat trick of the ECHL season in a losing cause as Allen lost in Wichita 6-5 in a shootout..

November 21 - Utah's Matt Berry's hat trick led the Grizzlies to a 4-0 win over Allen.

January 11 - Zach Pochiro scored four goals to lead Allen to a 7-3 win over Wichita at the AEC.

January 25 - Jake Doty's first pro hat trick leads Allen to a 5-0 road win over Tulsa.


C.J. Mott now has the first shutout of the ECHL season (October 13) and the last ECHL shutout (January 25). There were four shutouts in the ECHL last night. That is the most shutouts in one night all season.