It was a tough start but a great ending for Allen last night in Tulsa as the Americans beat the Oilers 6-5 in overtime. It is rare to come back from a three goal deficit in the third period but that is what the Americans accomplished against the Oilers. Allen defied plenty of odds in this game including overcoming the fact the Americans allowed a goal with 30 seconds remaining in the first period and 53 seconds remaining in the second period. Allen trailed in the game 3-0, 4-1 and 5-2 before it mounted a comeback. Here are just a few of the other odds Allen was able to overcome last night.
Tulsa scored first: The Oilers record when scoring first was 20-5-4-0.
Allen trailed 2-0 after the first period: The Americans record when trailing after the first period this season was 1-10-0-0.
Allen trailed 5-2 after the second period: The Americans road record when trailing after two periods was 0-9-0-0.
- Erasing any deficit in the third period is very difficult when you consider the record for all ECHL teams when trailing after the second period is 27-130-9-5. Erasing a three goal deficit in the third period is almost unheard of.
- It was the tale of two games last night when comparing the first two periods to the third period and overtime. In game one (first two periods) Tulsa out scored Allen 5-2 and out shot the Americans 26-15 including 18-9 in the second period. In game two (third period and overtime) Allen out scored Tulsa 4-0 and out shot the Oilers 18-7 including 13-4 in the third period.
- Special teams played a big part in the game. Even though the Allen penalty kill gave up two power play goals the Americans power play was outstanding going 3-3 in its best performance of the season. The Allen power play percentage is now 20.8% (48-231) and is ranked #2 in the league. Allen's road power play percentage is tops in the ECHL at 25.3% (25-99).
- There were a lot of great individual performances in the game with six players having multiple points and three players having three point games. Chad Butcher (1G, 2A), Zane Franklin (1G, 2A) and Les Lancaster (0G, 3A) led the team in points. Corey Mackin had two goals including a spectacular spin-o-rama backhand, top shelf, bar down game winner in overtime.
- With the win the Americans extended their win steak to six games which is the second time this season they have won six straight. The other was back in February when Allen won six straight road games. There have been only two win streaks longer than six game all season in the ECHL. Florida won nine in a row and Fort Wayne won seven straight back in February.
- The goal scorers for Allen were Corey Mackin (21, 22), Spencer Asuchak (19), Chad Butcher (6), Zane Franklin (8) and Scott Conway (7). Here are the video highlights from the Allen Americans YouTube channel:
- Here is the game recap issued by the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/press-release/third-period-rally-leads-americans-past-tulsa/
COACH'S CORNER
- It was a tired coach when I talked to Steve Martinson this morning and with good reason. Here are his comments;
"The sleeper bus we normally use was in an accident so we had to drive a bus to Tulsa on with passenger seats. On the sleeper bus guys can lay down and take a nap on the way to Tulsa. That is hard to do on a passenger bus."
"We got off to a slow start in the game and it was a combination of not skating with speed, poor defending, turnovers at the blue line, okay goaltending and overall weak play."
"Our power play kept us in the game and allowed us to come back."
"That goal Corey Mackin scored in overtime to win the game is a shot he practices all the time. Corey is our best player for puck possession down low because he is so good at changing directions."
"Jake Paterson will get the start in goal tonight."
"Not having a sleeper bus was also a factor coming home as the bus broke down (tire issue) and instead of arriving back in Allen around 2:30 am we didn't get back to the AEC until 7:30 am."
"I won't know until I get to the rink what changes we will have for tonight but we have a couple of players dinged up and Laberge played his first game in a couple of weeks last night."
"We have virtually a new team with 12 players (including goalies) who have played fewer than 20 games with us this season."
"Games like last night are good for team building and also builds character on a team."
"The comeback last night reminded me of some of our championship teams who never quit and always believed they could come back no matter the score."
GAME THREE PREVIEW
- It wasn't easy but the Americans have earned four points in the first two games of the series against Tulsa but the job is only half completed. If Allen wants to compete for the top spot in the Western Conference they need to have a good performance tonight despite sitting on a bus all night.
- Allen needs a better start tonight and they need to get back to the team defense that they played in game one against Tulsa on Wednesday. Jake Paterson will have to be on the top of his game when there are defensive breakdowns.
- You can't expect the power play to go 3-3 every night so the Americans will have to play better on the penalty kill. Tulsa was 2-4 on the power play after going 0-2 in game one. Granted one of the Oilers power play goals was 5-on-3 but it is imperative Allen wins the special teams battle tonight if the expect to win.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Spencer Asuchak had another goal last night. He now has 12 goals in the last 16 games and nine points (6G, 3A) in his last six games. Spencer has also taken the ECHL lead in shooting percentage (see below). Asuchak has scored 19 goals on 81 shots for a shooting percentage of 23.5%.
- In the game last night Zane Franklin scored a power play goal at 16:53 of the third period to cut the score to 5-4. Coach Martinson had pulled the goalie with Allen down two goals and the 6-on-4 worked. The goalie was not pulled when Scott Conway scored the goal to tie the game 5-5. I asked coach Martinson about the whys and wherefores of these moves and got a five minutes lesson on end game strategy when you are trailing. It once again proved to me Martinson is playing chess while others are playing checkers.
- Utah beat Rapid City 5-1 last night at home. It was the third straight win for the Grizzlies over the Rush. The teams are battling four the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. They play again tonight.
- Matt Register and Les Lancaster combined for five points last night and continue to lead all ECHL defensemen in points. Lancaster is #1 with 48 points and Register is #2 with 46 points. They are quickly closing in on several Allen records. As a duo their 94 points is within six points of the only defensive duo to ever score a combined 100 points in a season. Aaron Gens and Kevin Young combined for 100 points in 2014-15. With 15 games remaining Lancaster and Register both have a shot at the individual record for most points in a season which is 56 held by Aaron Gens (2014-15).
- Corey Mackin has thrived in Steve Martinson's offense. He has 22 goals in 52 games this season. Last year he scored 20 goals in 58 games.
Sometimes you have to heed the words of one of the world’s greatest philosophers - “It ain’t over til it’s over”!!
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