There is not much good you can say about the Allen Americans disappointing 4-1 loss last night to the Tulsa Oilers before a crowd of 2349 at the CUTX Event Center. Just when it looked like Allen had things turned around they have scored just three goals in the last two games while allowing eight. Here is a list of what went wrong last night.
- Gave up first goal 6:25 after puck drop
- Out shot 16-6 in first period
- Out shot 18-10 in second period
- Out shot 17-6 in third period
- Out shot 51-22 for the game
- Most shots allowed all season
- Largest shot differential all season (29)
- Lone goal came on a 5-on-3 power play
- Allowed two power play goals
- No team is going to win games when they give up the first goal, trail after the first and second period, get out shot by 29 shots, give up over 50 shots and lose the special teams battle. As Kris Myllari was quoted after the game, "It was embarrassing and unacceptable." I doubt anyone will argue with his assessment.
- It is not often a goalie gives up four goals and has a save percentage of .922. That was the case last night as Antoine Bibeau was peppered with 51 shots. Remember, Allen won the last home game against Tulsa 6-3 (last Friday) with Bibeau in goal but the Americans were out shot 48-24. That makes the last two home games, both against Tulsa, with a shot total of 99-46.
- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/media/americans-fall-to-the-oilers-4-1/
- Here the video highlights or maybe more appropriately lowlights: https://youtu.be/V6JN-HvibxM
- The Americans won't have much time to figure out how to get things turned around against Tulsa with games against the Oilers on Friday and Sunday. Sandwiched between the two games in Tulsa is a game in Kansas City on Saturday.
COACH'S CORNER
"We were outworked and it is as simple as that. It was clearly will over skill in that game."
"I am going to make the team watch the entire game today so they can see what I saw."
"We have too many players waiting for someone else to get the puck so they can make a skill play."
"We had enough skill last night to score one goal and it was a 5-on-3."
"We had four guys sitting out tonight and they will all be in the lineup in Tulsa."
"The plan is to take 20 players on the road trip."
"Tulsa's forwards put a lot of pressure on our defense when we are trying to breakout. Our forwards need to do a better job putting pressure on their defense."
"Gavin Gould will not leave for the All-Star game until Monday morning so he will be with us for the road trip."
OTHER COMMENTS
- After two straight losses to Tulsa, Allen's points percentage has fallen from .580 to .537, still good enough for fourth place in the Mountain Division. With the win last night, Tulsa improved to .550 and passed the Americans for third place.
- It was appropriate that Allen's sole goal last night was scored by Gavin Gould, his eighth of the season since earlier in the day he was named as the Americans representative to the ECHL All-Star game.
- Former Allen forward Olivier Archambault is representing Trois Riviéres at the All-Star game. Archambault scored 31 goals in 66 games when he played for Allen.
- How does Allen get a player like Gould in what seems like a great trade. In Gould's case, Greenville had too many smaller players and was looking for a bigger player. They sent a rookie, Gould, to Allen for a bigger, more experienced player. It turns out Gould is one of the best players on the team in finishing his checks and is third in scoring among all ECHL rookies. He plays much bigger than his size.
- Allen's game at Kansas City on January 4 that was postponed has been rescheduled and will now be played on February 16. It actually works out better as the Americans were scheduled for a single game in Kansas City on February 15 but will now play back to back games. What it does mean is Allen will play the Mavericks five straight games, February 9, 10, 11 at home and 15, 16 on the road. Kansas City is the most penalized team in the ECHL so it should be interesting playing the Mavericks five times in eight days.
- I did some research on the makeup of the ECHL All-Star team that was named yesterday because in looking at the names, there were fewer prospects/younger players than I anticipated. As of this morning 10 of the 26 players selected are playing in the AHL. Maybe some will be sent back before the game which is on Monday. Here is the info for you to judge for yourself:
DID YOU KNOW: This may be the odd stat of the day but decided to look up the Allen all-time leaders that played just one season with the Americans.
Points - Justin Bowers (2009-10) played just one season in Allen but his 73 points (49 games) ranks him #31 on the all time points list.
Goals - Corey Mackin (2020-21) had 30 goals (67 games) in his only season with Allen but that is good enough to place him #25 on the all time list (tied with Jack Combs).
Assists - Justin Bowers is also the assist leader of one year players. His 50 assists in 2009-10 ranks him #29 all time.
Penalty Minutes - Derek Mathers (2016-17) had 274 PIMS (59 games) in his one season in Allen. That is still #1 for PIMS in a single season. Mather's 276 PIMS ranks him #9 on the all time list.
Barry in watching last night's game, it was obvious that the players aren't taking shots when they clearly should. On power plays, our guys seem to pass the puck around so much that they end up losing possession and an opportunity is presented for the other team to score (i.e. a shorty). I understand the need to set up the puck to maximize the scoring chances but there has to be a happy medium somewhere between setting up the opportunity to score and actually taking shots. As the saying goes, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
ReplyDeleteYou can't win games when you only have 22 SoG and your opponents have over 50 SoG. We definitely have some amazing hockey talent on the team, so why aren't we winning??? My observations include poor passing (many of the passes last night didn't have 'purpose' (no zip to it) or were telegraphed and Tulsa read the pass), bad decisions, not putting pressure on the opponents on both ends of the ice, and not taking shots when the opportunity was there.
One thing that Tulsa did well last night is keeping the pressure on the Americans from one end of the ice to the other. In basketball, this is called a full court press. I am not sure what the hockey equivalent is but we don't seem to consistently put this type of pressure on our opponents.
Again, I am not sure where the disconnect is between the talent we clearly have and why we aren't winning. I hope the boys can figure out where this disconnect is before it is too late and we are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs...
Agree. Often trying to find the perfect pass for the perfect play while passing up good shooting lanes.
DeleteMaybe they could try playing defense...
ReplyDelete