The optimism of the 1000th win for coach Steve Martinson turned into the pessimism of the worst defensive performance of the season at the Allen Event Center last night. The Kansas City Mavericks shutout the Allen Americans 6-0 before a disappointed crowd of 2450. It was the worst shutout loss in team history and the seventh time this season Allen has been shutout which is also a record.
Here are the number of times Allen has been shutout in each of their five ECHL seasons:
7 - 2018-19 (through 62 games)
5 - 2017-18
2 - 2016-17
2 - 2015-16
1 - 2014-15
- Allen managed to miss all of the keys to the game and it got out of hand quickly. Allen had an early power play (49 seconds) and generated five quality shots but did not score. The rest of the first period was a disaster. From the time that early power play expired (2:49) to the end of the first period the Americans had two shots on goal and gave up three goals to Kansas City and the game was essentially over. The game got out of hand when the Mavericks scored three more goals in the second period. After losing the first period 3-0, the second period 3-0, the Americans managed to stop the bleeding in the third period and while they didn't win the third period they did battle to a 0-0 tie.
- Special teams was a big key to this game and Kansas City's special teams continued to dominate the Americans. The Mavericks were 2-4 on the power play and held Allen to 0-6 on their power play opportunities. Kansas City's season long power play is 17.6% but in their nine games against Allen it is 31.3%. The Mavericks season long penalty kill percentage is 80.2% but in the nine games against Allen it is 92.5%. The Americans power play is 3-40 (7.5%) against Kansas City. Special teams are a major reason the Mavericks record against the Americans now stands at 1-8.
- The stars for the Mavericks were goalie Mason McDonald and forward Greg Betzgold. McDonald shutout the Americans for the second straight time and has stopped 91of the last 92 shots he has faced from Allen going back to November. That is a save percentage of .989. Betzgold had four goals and an assist. He has 37 points this season and 30% of them (6G, 5A) have come against Allen.
- Here is the game recap issued by the Kansas City Mavericks: https://kcmavericks.com/en/news/betzold-s-five-point-night-highlights-mavericks-6-0-win-at-allen
- Here are the video highlights from the game:
- Here are the post game comments from Steve Martinson:
- Allen was missing a lot of offense with Breton and Bourbonnais still on loan to the AHL and Zach Pochiro out with an illness. Pochiro is expected back for Friday but the other two will not be back. Allen is also missing C.J. Motte who is injured. As a reminder Allen's record with Motte in goal is 17-14-4-2. When he is not in goal the record is 4-21-0-0.
- Stepan Falkovsky was recalled by Iowa after the game just hours before the reassignment/recall deadline which was at 11:59 pm. He has been reassigned to the Manchester Monarchs (ECHL).
- The hope for Allen is defensemen Etienne Boutet and/or Dalton Thrower will be back in the lineup for Friday. They are listed as day to day. Most likely Allen will be playing shorthanded on Friday and will once again have to use an EBUG to back up Lukas Hafner.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Allen's magic number to be mathematically eliminated from the playoffs is now down to four points. That means if Kansas City wins in regulation on Friday night the Americans are officially eliminated.
- The only realistic goal left for Allen is to escape last place in the Mountain Division and those hopes are fading rapidly. Rapid City won last night and Wichita lost. Allen is now five points behind Wichita and six points behind Rapid City. However, Allen has 10 games remaining, Wichita 13 and Rapid City 12.
- The race for the top spot in the Mountain Division is tighter than ever with Tulsa on the rise and Utah fading. Here are the winning percentages for the top three teams.
.627 - Idaho
.617 - Tulsa
.612 - Utah
These teams are ranked #5, #6, #7 in the ECHL in winning percentage.
- One team, Cincinnati, has clinched a playoff spot. The Cyclones are well on the way to winning the Brabham Cup which is given to the team with the best record in the regular season. Cincinnati's winning percentage (.763) is outpacing Florida (.708) and Newfoundland (.690) by a good margin.
- In their first three seasons in the ECHL Allen was shut out a total of five times. In the last two seasons they have been shutout a total of 12 times including a record seven times this season. The seven shutouts have been spread out with one each month with the exception of November when the Americans were shutout in back to back games in Utah. The shutout last night was the first one that took place at home. Here is the list:
2-0 October 28 in Rapid City
4-0 November 21 in Utah
5-0 November 23 in Utah
3-0 December 29 in Utah
2-0 January 4 in Tulsa
2-0 February 8 in Kansas City
6-0 March 6 in Allen against Kansas City
- There will be a Police vs Fire, Guns and Hoses hockey game before Allen's game on Saturday. These teams are made up of players from all around the DFW area. Americans assistant coach Jason Deitsch, whose other job is as a firefighter for the McKinney Fire Department, will take part in this game which starts at 5:00 pm. Any tickets bought through the link below will go to benefit a McKinney police officer who was hospitalized after having a seizure while on duty. One ticket gets you into both games so come out early and support Jason and all of the policemen and firefighters before the Americans take on Tulsa at 7:05 pm. Here is the link to buy tickets that will have proceeds go to the Guns and Hoses Foundation: http://Allenamericans.com/ntxallstars
DID YOU KNOW: Here are the worst defeats (losses by five or more goals) in Allen Americans history in chronological order. It is noteworthy seven of the 12 worst defeats in history happened at home.
9-3: Kansas City - 3/8/19 (home
6-0: Kansas City - 3/6/19 (home)
5-0: Utah - 11/23/18 (away)
6-1: Kansas City - 3/24/18 (home)
5-0: Idaho - 1/6/2018 (away)
6-1: Tulsa - 11/21/15 (home)
8-1: Colorado - 11/14/15 (home)
6-1: Fort Worth - 2/23/13 (away)
5-0: Laredo - 2/25/12 (away)
11-6: Colorado - 1/1/11 (home)
5-0: Tulsa - 12/18/10 (home)
6-1: Laredo - 3/4/10 (away)
6-1: Rapid City - 1/15/10 (home)
No teams wants to stink but this year's Americans do stink. Having said that, the drop in attendance must be alarming for the owner. I assume he and coach will have a sit down after the season (if they haven't already) and try to figure out what they need to do to start winning. Can't have many seasons like this season.
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