It is game day for the Allen Americans as they are in Wichita to take on the Thunder. After four home games the Americans are the last team in the Mountain Division to play a road game. After the game tonight Allen will travel to Kansas City where they will take on the Mavericks Saturday night before returning to Allen.
- Here is Allen's travel roster which is every healthy player on the team. Two players stayed home, defenseman Nolan Kneen and forward Jackson Leef. With two goalies, seven defensemen and 10 forwards, everyone will be in the lineup tonight except one defenseman.
Goalies
#34 - Antoine Bibeau
#40 - Frank Marotte
Defensemen:
#3 - Darian Skeoch
#4 - Kris Myllari
#20 - Ben Carroll
#23 - Ben Owen
#25 - Phil Beaulieu
Forwards
#9 - Ryan Lohin
#10- Jackson Leppard
#11 - Branden Troock
#13 - Chad Costello
#19 - Jared Bethune
#21 - Jack Combs
#26 - Spencer Asuchak
#28 - D-Jay Jerome
#29 - Kelly Bent
#49 - Dawson Butt
- Tonight's game will be Allen's fifth of the season but the third against Wichita. It is hard to forget the opening night disaster when the Thunder shutout the Americans 7-0. Allen came back the next night and beat Wichita 6-3. That opening night 7-0 win against Allen is the only game Wichita has won as they have lost three straight since.
- Both teams come into the game tonight trying to get on the winning track. Allen has lost its last two games (both in overtime) and has a record of 1-1-2-0. Wichita's record is 1-3-0-0.
- Allen's Achilles' heel has been giving up way to many shots on goal. The Americans are last in the ECHL, ranked #27 in allowing an average of 41.75 shots per game. Wichita isn't much better, ranked #22, allowing 35.00 shots per game. In average goals allowed Allen is #25 (4.75) and Wichita is #24 (3.75).
- What causes Allen to allow an average of 41.75 shots per game while taking an average of 30.50 shots per game? A big part of the problem is turning over the puck in neutral ice and at the offensive blue line. These turnovers not only eliminate a chance for the Americans to get a shot, they create a great opportunity for the opponent to get a shot. Getting the puck in deep when there isn't room to make a play in neutral ice will be a key to the game tonight.
- Special teams are always key and it was a tale of two games between these teams opening weekend. Allen was 0-6 on the power play in game one and 2-4 in game two. Wichita was just the opposite going 3-5 in game one and 0-3 in game two. Allen's power play after four games is ranked #16 at 17.6% but if you eliminate that first game the power play is 27.3%. Wichita's power play after four games is ranked #5 at 25.0% but if you eliminate that first game the power play is 13.3%.
- Allen will have Eric Roy back in the lineup after he missed last weekend against Utah. Eric had three points (1G, 2A) in the two games he played and leads all ECHL defensemen in average points per game at 1.50 (minimum 2 games played).
- Goalie Antoine Bibeau is scheduled to get his first ever ECHL start tonight. Also look for some line changes in the game. During practice this week Ryan Lohin was centering Costello and Combs while Spencer Asuchak was centering Jackson Leppard and Brenden Troock.
- Scoring first is typically a big advantage but not so much with Allen and Wichita thus far this season. Allen is 1-0-2-0 when scoring first and Wichita is 1-1-0-0. With that said, the odds are the first goal of the game will predict the winner.
- Allen and Wichita have had some real Donnybrooks over the years and it sometimes seems like every game is like that. In fact half the times these teams play they have less than their average penalty minutes. In the opening weekend games the combined penalty minutes were 32 and 34.
- The referee scheduled for the game is Sean MacFarlane (#4). He won the top award for on ice officials in 2020-21. He has been a referee in the ECHL and AHL the last five seasons.
OTHER COMMENTS
- 20 of 27 ECHL teams will be in action tonight. Here is the ECHL Today with a brief preview of all 10 games: https://www.echl.com/en/news/2021/11/echl-today-nov-5
- Newfoundland is the only undefeated team in the ECHL having won its first four games on the road. The Growlers "home opener" is tonight but they will play in a facility in a nearby community with a capacity of 1065. The team is suspended from its home arena (Mile One Centre) by the city of St. John's while it investigates allegations of "disrespectful workplace conduct" by team ownership.
- The only other Mountain Division teams in action tonight are Rapid City and Utah who will play in Utah. Last night Tulsa beat Idaho 2-1 at home despite being out shot by the Steelheads 31-16. The 16 shots is the second fewest in a game this season, not bad to get a win with so few shots. The fewest shots in a game this season also happened last night. Iowa lost to Cincinnati 5-3 and managed just 13 shots on goal including only two in the third period. The Cyclones had 37 shots on goal.
- Here is an odd combination of stats. Greenville is tied for the worst points percentage in the ECHL (.250) but has the second best team save percentage of .928. How does that happen? The Swamp Rabbits can't score, having scored just 7 goals on 124 shots for an unusually low shooting percentage of 5.6%. The Iowa Heartlanders, another team with a .250 points percentage, is just the opposite of Greenville. Iowa has one of the league's best shooting percentages (13.6%) and one of the worst team save percentages (.845).
- Here are stat extremes so far this season in goals scored and allowed. Toledo is #1 in goals scored per game at 5.25. Greenville and Trois-Rivieres are #27 at 1.75 goals per game. Newfoundland is #1 in goals allowed per game at 1.75. Iowa is #27 allowing 5.50 goals per game.
DID YOU KNOW: Antoine Bibeau is the most experienced goalie to ever play for Allen with his 194 AHL games and four NHL games. Of course Aaron Dell has more NHL experience (114 games) along with 76 AHL games but that was mostly after he played in Allen.
Looking forward to the game and possible how well the line changes work. Go Red
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