Allen's 5-2 loss last night in Utah was closer than the final score but it was still the fourth straight loss to the Grizzlies this season. Allen will try and finish off the season series against Utah with a win this afternoon (2:10 pm CST). If Allen doesn't win this afternoon, it will be the first time the Americans have ever gone winless in a season series against a Mountain Division team.
- Allen scored first in the game last night but that has proven to be the kiss of death. The Americans scored first in all four games against Utah which all led to losses. Maybe Allen needs to surrender the first goal today to get a win. Allen got on the scoreboard first, midway through the opening period when Gavin Gould redirected an Eric Roy shot, but Utah answered back 86 seconds later. The teams were tied 1-1 at the first intermission.
- Utah scored the only goal of the second period while outshooting Allen 13-8. Another kiss of death when the Grizzlies took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. Utah is now 17-0-0-0 with a lead after the second period. Allen's road record when trailing after the second period is now 0-6-2-0.
- Utah scored an insurance goal 58 seconds into the third period to make the score 3-1 but Allen responded just 41 seconds later when Jack Combs scored on a great pass from Chad Costello. The Americans had a chance to tie the score midway through the third period when they had a power play opportunity but instead of a power play goal, Allen found a new way to give up a shorthanded goal. Matthew Boucher, the reigning ECHL Rookie of the Year, was given a penalty shot while Allen was on the power play, which he converted to make the score 4-2. A successful penalty shot in that situation is recorded as a shorthanded goal so Allen has now given up a league leading 13 shorthanded goals and Utah has scored 14 shorthanded goals, second best in the ECHL
- Boucher scored an empty net goal to make the final score 5-2. Boucher is under contract with Colorado (AHL) and has scored 12 goals in 16 games with Utah. He was one of three players (Boucher, Henry, Miner) assigned by Colorado on Saturday that played last night. Forwards Boucher and Henry combined for three of the Grizzlies five goals. Goalie Trent Miner picked up the win stopping 21 of 23 Allen shots. Having a great affiliation is invaluable. If I remember correctly at the start of the season, Utah had 12 contracted players on the roster.
- Another telling stat in this series and the entire season is shots on goal. Last night Utah out shot Allen 41-23 including 15-6 in the critical third period. The Grizzlies have outshot the Americans in all four games this season by a total of 167-107. For the season, Allen has been outshot in 24 of 32 (75%) of its games with a record of 7-12-4-1. In the eight games the Americans have outshot the opponent, their record is 7-1-0-0.
- A win this afternoon is almost a must for Allen, to show they can play with the top teams in the division and to stop the bleeding. The Americans have given up all of the gains they made when they won eight of nine games. Allen has now lost six of the last seven games and if they lose in regulation today will be back at .500 and out of the playoffs.
- What are the keys to an Allen win this afternoon? I posed that question to coach Martinson along with asking about the lineup today.
"We have a couple of players that will be game time decisions. We might end up playing short a player today."
"I haven't made a decision on which goalie will play today."
"With the lineup we have I will make some changes in how we play."
"We need to bury our chances when we get them today. We can't miss on those good opportunities."
"The only way we win today is to play fast and play full out for 60 minutes."
- Here is the game recap from the Utah Grizzlies perspective: https://www.utahgrizzlies.com/en/grizzlies-news/strong-3rd-period-leads-grizz-to-5-2-win
- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/media/game-recap-americans-still-winless-against-utah-this-season/
- The goal scorers for Allen were Gavin Gould (10) who scored his 30th point of the season which ranks him #2 among all ECHL rookies in points and Jack Combs (10). Chad Costello's assist on the Combs goal was his 40th point of the season ranking him #2 in the ECHL. Here are the video highlights: https://youtu.be/GjDmeLPkAp4
- A positive note from the game last night was Allen's penalty kill which held Utah scoreless on four power play opportunities. The Americans have now gone five games without giving up a power play goal. Prior to this streak, Allen hadn't gone more than two games without giving up a power play goal.
OTHER COMMENTS
- There was an incident in the third period of the game in Jacksonville last night (Jacksonville vs South Carolina) that will get national publicity today because of the racial implications. It comes on the heels of simliar racial incident in the AHL last week. San Jose Barracuda's Krystoff Hrabik, who spent six games in Allen last season, was suspended for 30 games for that racial incident. Here is an article about the ECHL incident last night between Jordan Subban (South Carolina) and Jacob Panetta (Jacksonville): https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/jordan-subban-says-opposing-player-made-racist-gesture-towards-echl-game/
- Newfoundland lost 4-2 in Kansas City last night for a split with the Mavericks. The Growlers will continue their swing through the Mountain Division playing Tulsa today, Wichita on Wednesday before finishing in Allen with three games next weekend.
DID YOU KNOW: Here is the ECHL Stats post for today which talks about an Allen game when Zach Sawchenko had a 47 save shutout but still lost the game.
Utah has always been a tough team for Allen.
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