The Allen Americans won their road opener last night beating the Wichita Thunder 3-1 before a crowd of 5462 at INTRUST Bank Arena. It was an atypical game for these long time rivals, a low scoring defensive battle with just four minor penalties (two on each team) the entire game. As a comparison to the combined eight PIMS last night, the combined penalty minutes in the last six games between Allen and Wichita (two this season and final four last season) were 34, 32, 34, 30, 42 and 58.
- Allen scored the first goal of the game which it has done in four of the five games this season. It was the only goal of the first period. Wichita tied the game in the second period (7:58) but the Americans responded at the 13:29 mark to take a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. The game wasn't decided until Allen scored an empty net goal with 22 seconds left in the game.
- Goal scorers for Allen were Phil Beaulieu (1), Kris Myllari (1) and Ryan Lohin (4). Beaulieu opened the scoring, Myllari had the game winner and Lohin's empty net goal gave him the team lead with four goals.
- It was a low shot game by both teams with Allen leading in shots on goal 27-21. It was quite a change from Allen's first four games when it allowed 39, 34, 49 and 45 shots. The low shots allowed (21) helped the Americans get out of last place in the ECHL in shots allowed. They are now ranked #26 allowing an average of 37.60 shots per game but last night was real progress.
- He faced only 21 shots but goalie Antoine Bibeau, playing in his first ever ECHL game after seven years in the AHL was outstanding stopping several quality Wichita scoring opportunities. A GAA of 1.00 with a .952 save percentage is quite a start.
- Here is the game recap issued by the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/media/americans-beat-wichita-3-1/
- Here is the game recap issued by the Wichita Thunder: https://www.wichitathunder.com/en/news/allen-holds-off-late-thunder-rally
- Neither team was able to capitalize on the power play though they each had just two opportunities. Allen's power play is down to 15.8%, ranked #17 in the league. The penalty kill is up to 78.9% but is still ranked #20 in the ECHL. If you eliminate opening night when the Americans gave up three power play goals the penalty kill is at 92.9%.
STEVE MARTINSON'S COMMENTS
"We played better tonight but still need improvement."
"We need to get back to basics on our power play opportunities. We need more power play 101 in Kansas City."
"We will have an EBUG against the Mavericks. Antoine Bibeau, who played great in Wichita, has been recalled to Charlotte."
"We are making improvements but we are not where we are going to be."
"We have one player that was injured in Wichita that may not be able to go against Kansas City."
ALLEN VS KANSAS CITY PREVIEW
- After the win in Wichita the Allen Americans had to make the four hour bus trip to Kansas City and arrived at the hotel at 2:00 am. The Mavericks were snug in their beds as they did not play last night, they haven't played since Friday (October 29) when they beat Wheeling 3-0 at home.
- Tonight will be the first of 11 times Allen will play Kansas City this season (6 home, 5 away). In February, Allen will play the Mavericks four straight games (3 home 1 away). Last season Allen's record against Kansas City was 7-4-0-0.
- A statistical comparison for this season gives Kansas City an edge but Allen's stats are skewed by the opening day 7-0 shutout loss. The Mavericks have scored more goals per game (3.5 vs 3.2) and allowed fewer goals per game (3.8 vs 4.0). Allen has the edge in average shots for per game (29.8 vs 26.0) while the Mavericks have a big margin in average shots allowed (27.3 vs 37.6). Kansas City has the better power play percentage (23.5% vs 15.8%) and penalty kill percentage (82.6% vs 78.9%).
- Referee Sean MacFarlane (#4), who was the referee last night when Allen beat Wichita and called just four minor penalties also took the trip the Kansas City and will referee the game tonight against the Mavericks.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Newfoundland remains unbeaten winning its home opener last night 4-1 over Adirondack playing in a nearby small arena while an investigation takes place that has the Growlers suspended from their home arena (Mile One Centre). The attendance was a sold out standing room only crowd of 1168. The distraction doesn't seem to bother the team. With a 5-0 record to start the season Newfoundland needs three more wins to match the longest winning streak to start the season in the history of the ECHL. In the Growlers win last night they had a rare 5-on-3 shorthanded goal. In addition to having a 96.6% (1-19) penalty kill, Newfoundland leads the ECHL with five shorthanded goals in five games.
- Mountain Division teams have played as few as four games (Tulsa & Kansas City) and as many as seven games (Utah). Here are the division standings by points percentage:
.750 - Tulsa
.714 - Utah
.600 - Allen
.500 -Idaho
.500 - Rapid City
.500 - Kansas City
.200 - Wichita
- You don't see this happen very often. Trois-Rivieres has the best penalty kill percentage in the ECHL (100%) and the worst power play percentage in the ECHL (5.0%). The Lions have killed 20 straight penalties and are 1-20 on the power play.
- Aaron Luchak of the Orlando Solar Bears has picked up where he left off last season as the top scorer in the ECHL. Luchak is averaging 2.40 points per game with 12 points (5G, 7A) in five games.
- Defenseman Charle-Edouard D'Astous of the Utah Grizzlies leads all ECHL defensemen with five goals, is tied for the overall lead in goals and leads all players in plus/minus at +12.
- There are 10 games in the ECHL tonight. Here is the ECHL Today with a preview of all of them: https://www.echl.com/en/news/2021/11/echl-today-nov-6
DID YOU KNOW: Allen's current roster includes:
#1 All Time Goal Scorer - Spencer Asuchak (124)
#2 All Time Goal Scorer - Chad Costello (100)
#1 All Time in Points - Chad Costello (353)
#2 All Time in Points - Spencer Asuchak (314)
#3 All Time Goals by Defensemen - Eric Roy (43)
#1 Average Points Per Game, Single Season - Jack Combs (1.75)
We will take the win! I hope having 2 AHL goalies isn't a weakness since they could keep getting called up.
ReplyDeleteSlowest Americans team I’ve ever watched.
ReplyDeleteHow many wide open in the slot goals have been scored by the opponents?