Playing without top goalie C.J. Motte who had started the last 20 games for Allen and Zach Pochiro, who is the ECHL leader in goals, the Americans beat the Thunder in Wichita by a score of 2-0 last night. A crowd of 2847 at Intrust Bank Arena watched rookie goalie Kyle Hayton, starting his first game since December 16, beat Wichita with a 33 save shutout.
- After a scoreless first period, the game winning goal was scored by Riley Bourbonnais at the 7:13 mark of the second period. It was a shorthanded goal assisted by Joel Chouinard and Dante Salituro. It was Riley's 13 goal of the season. Bourbonnais leads Allen with three shorthanded and he has scored all three in the last eight games. He is now tied for fifth in the ECHL in shorthanded goals.
- Alex Breton scored an insurance goal for Allen at the 6:53 mark of the third period. Alex jumped into the play from the point, found open space in the slot, took a great pass from Curt Gogol who was behind the net and put the puck in the net. It was Breton's ninth goal of the season to go along with 22 assists. Alex is now tied for third in points (31) among all ECHL defensemen.
- You can't say enough about the shutout effort of Kyle Hayton. To go almost two months without a start and just 20 minutes of cleanup action since December 16 and then stop all 33 shots last night was remarkable. He certainly deserved his recognition as the #1 star of the game. It has to be very difficult going so long without any game time but when called on he was ready. Job well done!
- Allen's penalty kill unit was perfect last night (0-3) and also had a shorthanded goal. The Americans have not allowed a power play goal in the last four games against Wichita (0-13). Allen was 0-3 on the power play but still has a big advantage going 7-18 (38.9%) in the last four games against the Thunder. The Americans have won four in a row against the Thunder (three of them in Wichita) and have outscored Wichita 21-9 in those four games.
- Here is the game recap issued by the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/americans-and-kyle-hayton-shut-out-wichita-2-0/
- Here is the game recap issued by the Wichita Thunder: https://www.wichitathunder.com/news/press-release/hayton-americans-shut-down-thunder.html
- Here are the video highlights of the two Allen goals and a lot of great saves by both goalies:
- The Americans headed home right after the game and will spend one night in their own bed before they board the bus again on Thursday and head to Kansas City where they will play the Mavericks on Friday night (7:05 pm).
OTHER COMMENTS
- With the win in Wichita last night Allen moved to within five points of sixth place Rapid City. Allen has played two more games than the Rush.
- The good news is Allen is only nine points behind Kansas City for the fourth and final playoffs spot and will have the chance to gain ground on the Mavericks when they go head to head on Friday. The bad news is Kansas City has played only 43 games compared to 51 for the Americans. You don't see a team have eight games in hand very often.
- Allen has now earned at least one point in 11 of their last 13 games. In those 13 games going back to January 11 the Americans have earned 18 of a possible 26 points for a winning percentage of .692.
- Riley Bourbonnais scored his third shorthanded goal of the season last night and it was Allen's seventh shorty this year. Wheeling and Kalamazoo lead the ECHL with 13 shorthanded goals. The Americans have only allowed two shorthanded goal all season. Only Adirondack with one shorty has fewer.
- Allen has been slowly improving their goals allowed average. The Americans were in last place for a long time giving up over four goals per game. They have improved that average to 3.63 per game and are now ranked #24. Over the last 15 games Allen's goals allowed average has been 2.93.
DID YOU KNOW: Allen has four shutouts this season (3 by Motte & 1 by Hayton) with 21 games remaining. Last season the Americans had no shutouts. The most shutouts Allen has had since joining the ECHL was nine in 2016-17. Riley Gill led the ECHL in shutouts that year with seven. Here are the shutouts by season:
4 - 2018-19: Motte (3), Hayton (1)
0 - 2017-18
9 - 2016-17: Gill (7), Murray (2)
4 - 2015-16: Gill (2), Rumpel (2)
2 - 2014-15: Gill (1), Dell (1)
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