Allen Loses to Brampton, Sheehy, Pollock, Gagne Move Up Leaderboard, Shooting Percentage Leaders and More

The Allen Americans finished their three games in three days with a 6-4 loss to the Brampton Beast last night before a crowd of 2257 at the CAA Centre. It was a game in which the Americans never had a lead after giving up the first goal of the game and falling behind 4-1 midway through the second period. To their credit the Americans closed the gap to 4-3 and 5-4 and the game wasn't decided until Brampton scored an empty net goal with just over a minute remaining.


- Goal scorers for Allen were Jared VanWormer (8), Stepan Falkovsky (4 & 5) and Gabe Gagne (15).


- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/americans-fall-in-brampton/


- Here is the game recap issued by the Brampton Beast: https://www.bramptonbeast.com/en/news/beast-clap-back-to-end-two-game-losing-streak


- Special teams played a key role in the game. While both teams had two power play goals the Americans were 2-9 while Brampton was 2-5. In the last two games Allen's penalty kill gave up five goals (5-9) which is a penalty kill percentage of 44.4%.


- The Americans have given up six goals in three of their last six games. Amazingly, Allen's record in those three games was 1-1-1-0. Giving up six goals per game is not the formula for success. When I  talked to coach Martinson early this morning all he had to say about the game was, "It was a frustrating game, we are going to need to get better defensively."


- There is little doubt about the offensive talent of the 2019-20 Allen Americans. They are ranked #5 in the league in average goals scored per game at 3.11. The gap between Allen's rank in goals scored and goals allowed is widening. As of this morning Allen is #3 in goals scored (104) and have slipped to #13 in goals allowed (84). With two defenseman on injured reserve (Boka & Owen) and three in Iowa (Atkinson, Register, Lancaster) it is not an easy task but the Americans need to get the goals allowed down.


- The team spent the night in Toronto because a lot of players have friends and family in the area. The team left at 9:30 am EST this morning on the 500 mile bus trip to Worcester where they will take on the Railers on Wednesday.



OTHER COMMENTS

- Despite the loss to Brampton the Americans are tied for the ECHL points lead with South Carolina at 41. Talk about a team that knows how to play defense, the Stingrays have given up only 50 goals in 24 games. South Carolina is on pace to allow less than 150 goals for the season. The Stingrays hold the ECHL record for fewest goals allowed in a season at 153, which they set in the 2017-18 season.


- Tyler Sheehy had two assists in the Brampton game to keep his point streak alive which is now at eight games. Tyler has had multiple points in the last six games. He now has 31 points (10G, 21A) and is tied for #5 in the ECHL scoring race. Here is a breakdown of Sheehy's recent scoring binge:

14 points (4G, 10A) in last six games
16 points (5G, 11A) in last eight games
22 points (6G, 16A) in last 11 games

It is very impressive Tyler is averaging 2.00 per game over the last month. Those are Chad Costello like numbers.


- Gabe Gagne scored his 15th goal of the season in the loss to Brampton. Gagne is now tied for #2 in the ECHL in goals. Gabe has a goal in six of his last eight games.


- Brett Pollock has quietly moved up to third in scoring for the Americans with 25 points (9G, 16A), trailing Sheehy (31 points) and Gagne (26 points). Brett has a seven game point scoring streak and has three goals and nine assists in the last seven games.


- Sheehy and Pollock are tied for the current longest streak in the ECHL for games with an assist. Both players have at least one assist in the last seven games.


- Allen hasn't gone more than one game without getting at least one point all season. They have only lost two games in a row once (against Cincinnati) and one of those was in overtime. Another reason the Americans need a win on Wednesday against Worcester is to avoid a second straight regulation loss for the first time this season.  



DID YOU KNOW: The Americans have some great goal scorers on the team. Here are Allen's top players this season in shooting percentage. Anything above 15% is considered excellent.

18.8% - Josh Brittain
18.5% - Stepan Falkovsky
16.4% - Olivier Archambault
15.9% - Tyler Sheehy
15.6% - Gabe Gagne
15.5% - Alex Guptill 

Last season two players finished above 15%, Riley Bourbonnais (18.1%) and Zach Pochiro (15.4%).