The 1575 fans at the Allen Event Center (AEC) last night watching Allen take on Tulsa saw something that had never happened before in the 12 year history of the Americans franchise, a 1-0 win at home. While there have been many 1-0 games on the road there was only a single 1-0 game at home prior to last night and that was a loss to Colorado on January 8, 2016. While the two games had different outcomes, a 1-0 loss in 2016 and a 1-0 win last night they had something in common. In 2016 a former Allen goalie, Eric Levine, was in goal for Colorado taking on Allen's Riley Gill. Last night a former Allen goalie, Hayden Hawkey, was in goal for Tulsa taking on Allen's Frank Marotte. The other thing these games had in common was outstanding play by all of the goalies.
- You can attribute the 1-0 score to great goaltending, great team defense or poor offensive performance and I heard comments about all of these sentiments from fans as I left the AEC after the game. It was probably a combination of all three that produced the result.
- What did work for the Americans was they hit the keys to the game. They scored the first goal although it took until midway through the third period. It was the 10th straight game (everyone this season) Allen has scored the first goal against Tulsa. Allen's lone goal came on the power play and the penalty kill unit shutout the Oilers (0-3). If you score first and win the special teams battle you will win most games and Allen accomplished that last night by the narrowest of margins.
- Scott Conway scored the only goal of the game at the 10:03 mark of the third period on the power play. It was Scott's sixth goal of the season (5th with Allen) and his first power play goal. The winning play went from Matt Register to Chad Butcher to Conway who had created some space in the slot. A quick shot and the puck was in the back of the net. Tulsa's goalie complained he was interfered with by Spencer Asuchak. If you look at the video highlights it is doubtful Asuchak even touched the goalie but if he did it is clear he was checked into the crease by the Tulsa defenseman. Here are the video highlights from the Allen Americans YouTube channel:
- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/general/americans-win-tight-battle-with-tulsa-1-0/
COACH'S CORNER
"We continue to play good team defense and are not giving up the scoring chances like we were a few weeks ago."
"We have gotten bigger on defense with the recent acquisitions and are now better in front of our net."
"It really helps us that we have speed on every line. We will continue to improve as all of the new players, many of which haven't played much in the last year, get more games played."
"Frank Marotte has been really good in goal his last two starts stopping 51 of 52 shots."
"I expect to see Sam Laberge in the lineup at some point this weekend."
"We will have a limited practice today with the schedule this weekend. A few players taking shots on the goalies will be the extent of the practice."
OTHER COMMENTS
- Congrats to Matt Register who earned assist number 300 as a pro last when he assisted on Scott Conway's game winning goal. Matt's 300 assists include 276 in the ECHL, 17 in the CHL and seven in the AHL.
- Allen has now won five straight games, one short of its longest win streak this season which was back in January. The Americans now narrowly trail Wichita in points percentage (.652 vs .655) for second place in the Western Division. Wichita plays at Kansas City tonight in the only game in the ECHL and if the Thunder lose in regulation time, Allen will move into second place. If Wichita loses in overtime the teams will be tied.
- If you look at the ECHL daily report for defensemen leaders it is all about Matt Register and Les Lancaster. In points, Lancaster is #1 (45) and Register is #2 (44) and they have widened the gap to #3 which is at 39 points. Lancaster leads in goals (17) which is six more than #2 (11). Les also leads in power play goals (5) and total shots (148). Register leads in assists (40), power play assists (20) and power play points (21). The only category they don't lead is penalty minutes and a former teammate, Cole Fraser, leads in PIMS (116).
- Allen's five game win streak is the longest current streak in the ECHL. The next longest is Fort Wayne with a three game win streak. The longest win streak this season is held by Florida who won nine straight games in February.
- Justin Kapelmaster started his second AHL game last night and got his second win as he led his Cleveland Monsters team to a 3-2 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins. Justin stopped 26 of 28 shots. The rookie's record in Cleveland is 2-0 with a GAA of 1.95 and save percentage of .933. I would say Kapelmaster has made a good first impression with Cleveland.
- Recently acquired defenseman Kris Mylarri made his first start for Allen last night. The Americans set a record for most players used every time a new player starts a game. Mylarri is the 51st player that has played at least one game for Allen this season. FYI, the record prior to this season was 46 players in 2015-16.
- The odd stat of the day is Allen now has six shutouts this season with four of them against Tulsa. Allen has played Tulsa only 10 times this season. The four Tulsa shutouts were from three different goalies, Justin Kapelmaster (2), Jake Paterson and Frank Marotte.
DID YOU KNOW: Allen has been involved in relatively few overtime games (10) but has the best record in extra time games in the ECHL. Here is my ECHL stats post with all the details on overtime games this season:
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