The box score says the Allen Americans lost to the Swamp Rabbits in Greenville last night by a score of 4-1 before a crowd of 1147. The game was much closer than the final score as the Americans had the better opportunities out shooting Greenville in all three periods and by a total of 43-22 for the game. A combination of good goaltending by Greenville goalie Ryan Bednard and inability to finish by Allen led to defeat. Allen's shooting percentage this season is 9.5% which would yield four goals with 43 shots so they under performed. Greenville on the other hand scored four goals on just 22 shots (18.2%) well above their season shooting percentage of 8.9%.
- It was a disappointing loss for sure but Allen should feel good about how they played and confident going into game two tonight. Greenville scored four goals but one was an empty net goal, one was a shorthanded goal that took a weird bounce off the end boards and one was a power play goal. On the one even strength goal a Greenville player got mixed up with Justin Kapelmaster on a rebound.
- Maybe the most amazing stat from the game last night is when Allen took the ice, seven of the 18 players (39%) had never taken the ice for the Americans. Allen played one player short as Jared Bethune, who is on the trip and listed as day to day after an injury in Kansas City in Allen's last game, did not play.
- Allen gave up a shorthanded goal and a power play goal and went 0-5 on their power play opportunities but that doesn't tell the whole story. The shorthanded goal was a fluke and the Americans had numerous high quality power play chances they did not convert. I thought I heard the Greenville broadcast team say Allen had 13 shots on the two power plays in the first period. If Allen keeps up the same type of pressure on the power play tonight as they had last night they will score.
- It may be a silly stat but the biggest indicator of who wins a game is the team that scores first. It was Greenville last night as they improved their record when scoring first to 9-0-3-0. Allen has the best record in the ECHL when they score first (12-1-0-0) but when they don't score first, like last night, the Americans record is 3-9-1-0. As I stated in the series preview, Allen and Greenville have the two best records in the league when they score first with a combined record of 21-1-3-0. A good start should be top of mind for Allen tonight.
- Allen's lone goal came in the second period as Corey Mackin scored from the slot off a nice behind the net pass from Sam Laberge to tie the score 1-1. It was Mackin's 11th goal and 22nd point of the season, both lead the team.
- Here are the video highlights:
- Here is Steve Martinson's post game interview:
- I had a chance to check in with coach Martinson this morning and he told me Josh Maser, who was recently assigned to Allen by Iowa, has arrived in Greenville and will play tonight. Martinson reiterated what he said in his post game interview and emphasized how long it has been since the team played a game, some players haven't practiced for a long time and most were playing together for the first time. He liked the opportunities the team created saying they just need to do a better job of finishing tonight. It will be the same lineup tonight as last night with the addition of Maser.
- I noticed Martinson had Krystof Hrabik taking a lot of offensive zone face-offs in the last period and he won most of them. Something to watch for tonight.
OTHER COMMENTS
- The Iowa Wild, who had their game against the Texas Stars in Austin on Wednesday postponed because of COVID protocols will be back in action tonight. The play the Stars tonight and tomorrow night.
- With the loss last night Allen's points percentage drops to #5 in the ECHL trailing Indy (.813), Florida (.788), Wichita (.739) and Fort Wayne (.667).
- There is a full slate of games in the ECHL tonight with all 14 teams in action. One of the most interesting match ups will be Fort Wayne at Indy for the first of three games in three days. Here is the ECHL Today with a short preview of all seven games: https://www.echl.com/en/news/2021/2/echl-today-feb-26
- Here is a Zoom interview I did with Tommy Daniels a couple of days ago. Take a look. You may see these videos where a pet or child walk through during the interview but notice my lovely wife and blog proofreader (Nancy) walk through, oblivious to another Zoom interview, haha. As always if you have trouble loading any of the videos they can be found by Googling "Allen Americans YouTube Channel."
DID YOU KNOW: Allen has now lost three straight games in regulation. The last time that has happened is over two years ago, February 8-16, 2019. The most regulation losses in a row since Allen joined the ECHL is eight which occurred between December 5-19, 2018.
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