The Allen Americans lost in Wichita last night by a score of 5-2 before a crowd of 1630 at INTRUST Bank Arena. The Americans took three of a possible six points in the three game series against the Thunder and lost back to back games for the first time all season. Allen has now lost three of their last four games.
- The game last night was similar to the American's loss in Allen on Friday night the difference being the timing. Wichita scored first, which they did in all three games in the series, but Allen came back to take the lead 2-1. Wichita then battled back and the Americans couldn't respond. On Friday night Allen took a 3-1 lead before Wichita scored the last three goals of the game to take the win 4-3. Last night Allen took a 2-1 lead before Wichita scored the last four goals of the game to take the win 5-2.
- On Friday night Allen didn't score a goal after the 17:29 mark of the first period. Last night they didn't score after the 1:29 mark of the second period. What is really atypical is no goals in the third period. Allen has been the best team in the league in the third period but came up blank the last two nights.
- Despite giving up the first goal for the fourth straight game Allen battled back on Phil Beaulieu's second goal of the season to tie the score 1-1 at the first intermission. Allen took a 2-1 lead 89 seconds into the second period on Jesse Mychan's team leading 10th goal of the season. That was the end of the scoring for the Americans as they went the last 38 minutes and 31 seconds of the game without a goal and were outscored 4-0.
- Allen had their opportunities as they outshot Wichita 31-24 in the final two periods but couldn't generate enough offense. Special teams did not help as there were only three power plays in the entire game and the Thunder won the battle. The Americans had just one power play and did not score. Wichita had two power play opportunities and scored on one of them.
- Here are the video highlights with all of the goals, the Stevenson fight and some great saves.
- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/media/game-recap/americans-lose-series-to-wichita-after-5-2-loss-in-kansas/
- Here is the game recap issued by the Wichita Thunder: https://www.wichitathunder.com/news/echl-news/wichita-closes-week-with-5-2-win.html
- Allen has now lost three of their last four games and won't have much time to sort things out before they take on the Utah Grizzlies on a rare Tuesday night game at the AEC. Too many odd man rushes, too many turnovers, poor starts and special teams play will have to improve. Allen has lost six games all season with three of them coming in the last week. Something is going to have to change.
OTHER COMMENTS
- After Allen plays Utah on Tuesday the Americans will play Kansas City five straight games in a weeks time. February 13, 14, 15 (in Kansas City), 19, 20 (in Allen). Playing the same team five times in a week usually does not end up well.
- If you have been tracking the start of the AHL season you have seen some familiar names that have played in Allen. Iowa beat Texas 4-1 last night with four players in the lineup that have spent time in Allen. Goalie Dereck Baribeau stopped 21 of 22 shots to get the win, Tyler Sheehy had an assist, Dmitry Sokolov had a goal and defenseman Josh Atkinson had two shots and two PIMS. San Jose plays their first game today so will be interesting to see if Zach Sawchenko, Joe Garreffa or Jake McGrew crack the lineup. The Barracuda have a lot of forwards on their roster (20) so it will be tough to get in the lineup.
- Other former Allen players that played yesterday include Vincent Arseneau (Utica) who had a 10 minute misconduct penalty (Unsportsmanlike conduct), Gabe Gagne (Rockford) and Jack Sadek (Ontario).
- Seems like a long time ago that Joe Garreffa and Jake McGrew were recalled by San Jose. Even though they only played 11 games in Allen they are still tied for the ECHL lead in goals by rookies with six. It would be great if Joe and Jake return to Allen for the playoffs if not before. It is always better in my mind to have rookie prospects playing in the ECHL if they don't play regularly in the AHL.
- Allen is tied for the ECHL lead in major penalties with Florida. They both have 13 major penalties, most of them for fighting.
- Here is an odd stat. Wheeling has the worst points percentage in the ECHL (.321) but leads the league in shorthanded goals with five. The Nailers have just six power play goals but five shorthanded goals.
DID YOU KNOW: Allen has scored 68 goals in 19 games and is ranked #2 in goals per game (3.58). Of their 68 goals the Americans have scored 14 on the power play and three shorthanded. That computes to 25% of their goals coming from special teams. The ECHL ranges from 36.2% of goals being scored by special teams (Kansas City) to 17.9% of goals being scored by special teams (Wichita).
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