Whenever there is a specialty jersey night combined with a large crowd at the Allen Event Center (AEC) you hear many long time Allen fans talk about the curse of such nights that leads to the Americans losing. The curse struck again last night as the Allen Americans lost 4-3 in overtime to the Idaho Steelheads before the largest crowd of the season (5373) on Star Wars Night.
As the “curse” typically does, it gave hope to Allen fans as the Americans scored on their first shot of the game and it came on a penalty shot by Alex Breton. Penalty shots are successful about one third of the time but the Americans are now 2-2 this season. Zach Pochiro scored on a penalty shot on January 11 against Wichita.
- Back to the curse. By scoring the first goal of the game Allen looked to win the game. After all, their winning percentage when they score first is .639 compared with .203 when they don’t score first.
- There were other signs that the curse would not prevail on Star Wars Night. Allen had the lead after the first period (2-1) and the Americans were getting more power play opportunities than they were giving up. Everything was going smoothly with a 3-2 Allen lead until an ill-advised crosschecking penalty late in the second period gave the curse the opportunity to strike back. Idaho scored to tie the score 3-3 with a scant 3.9 seconds remaining in the period.
- A scoreless third period followed and the curse definitely had Allen in its grasp as the teams headed to overtime. It took just 40 seconds of overtime for Idaho to score and prove once again the force wasn’t with the Americans on a specialty jersey night in front of a big crowd at the AEC.
- Here is a more traditional game recap from the Idaho Steelheads: https://www.idahosteelheads.com/en/articles/steelheads-close-weekend-with-thrilling-4-3-ot-win
- The goal scorers for Allen were Alex Breton (8), Alex Ranger (6) and David Makowski (9). Here are the Sporfie highlights of the goals:
Alex Breton - A great start for Allen as Breton gets a penalty shot and converts. It was the Americans first shot of the game:
Alex Ranger - Chase Lang takes a shot and it trickles through the goalie. Alex along with an Idaho defensemen dive at the puck and with bodies and sticks flying it looks like the puck goes in the net off Ranger's skate.
David Makowski - David comes in from the point and is parked at the side of the net. He picks up the rebound and deflects the puck off the goalie's skate just inside the post.
- Here is the game winning overtime goal by Idaho. Tough to see the Steelheads make it look so easy given the Americans were playing a more conservative defensive group at the time.
STEVE MARTINSON'S POST GAME COMMENTS
- I had the chance to spend some time with coach Martinson after the game and he was really disappointed in the outcome of the game. The overtime was part of it since he deliberately put out two defensemen and a forward on the ice but Idaho skated right down and scored. Martinson's concerns were a lot more than the overtime. As he said, "We keep shooting ourselves in the foot and tonight again we took a retaliation penalty that cost us a goal at the end of the second period. I think we have a lot of agendas going on right now that are more important than winning."
OTHER COMMENTS
- Allen has now lost six of their last eight games. Granted four of the losses were in overtime so they came away with a point but they will have to do better if they plan to move up in the standings.
- With four overtime losses, three against Idaho, in the last eight games Allen is now 1-4 in overtimes and 3-2 in shootouts this season.
- Two of Allen's five remaining road games take place this week with a game in Wichita on Tuesday and in Kansas City on Friday. These are must win games for Allen.
- Dante Salituro's assist streak came to an end last night. Dante had at least one assist in every Allen game since January 13. In nine games he had 13 points (3G, 10A). Salituro's nine game assist streak is tied for the longest in the ECHL this season.
- Alex Ranger had a goal last night and now has four goals in the last five games including three straight. Alex has a plus/minus of +4 over the last three games.
- The Mountain Division winners last night were Idaho, Rapid City, and Wichita, The losers were Allen, Utah, Kansas City and Tulsa. The Americans are still the league leaders in games played (50) but are seven points out of sixth place in the division, 10 points out of fifth place and 11 points from the fourth and final playoff spot.
DID YOU KNOW: Alex Breton’s penalty shot goal at 3:24 of the first period was the earliest a penalty shot has been called all season. Here are a few facts about the ECHL penalty shots this season. There have been 34 penalty shots taken this season with 12 being successful for a success rate of 35.3%. Prior to last night the earliest a penalty shot was successful was the 11:33 mark of the second period. The penalty shots called by period vary widely. Here are penalty shot results by period with the success percentage:
1-3 (33.3%) 1st Period
4-11 (36.4%) 2nd Period
6-18 (33.3%) 3rd Period
0-2 (0.00%) Overtime
The team has played flat the last two games. Their power play shooting is abismal. I watched Allen pass 24 times in a single power play, not record one SOG and all it led to was allowing Idaho to kick the puck down ice over and over again.
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