Allen lost in Wichita last night by a score of 4-3 before a crowd of 5782 at INTRUST Bank Arena. The Americans fell behind early in the first period and spent the entire game fighting to get a lead. Allen fought back from deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 to tie the game but could not overcome the 4-3 lead Wichita took in the third period.
- All of the key stats went against Allen:
- Americans gave up the first goal - they have a losing record when giving up the first goal
- Americans were outshot - they have a losing record when being outshot
- Americans were trailing after the 2nd period - they have a losing record when trailing after the 2nd
- Americans lost the special teams battle - they have a losing record when losing special team battles
- To Allen's credit they never gave up after repeatedly falling behind in the game. The Americans were playing two players short after playing four players short for much of the game on Wednesday. The players have to be exhausted and it won't get any better as the team traveled back to Allen after the game last night, where they will take on the Thunder again tonight.
- The scoring sequence in the game went like this:
- Wichita scored first early in the opening period (2:25)
- Allen tied the score late in the period (18:52) on a goal by J.C. Campagna
- Wichita pulled ahead early in the second period (1:22) on a power play goal
- Allen answered back (5:22) on a Jack Combs goal to tie the scored 2-2
- Wichita got a second power play goal (11:27) to take a 3-2 lead into the second intermission
- Allen tied the score 3-3 early in the third period (1:51) on Campagna's second goal
- Wichita score the game winner at the 7:44 mark
- Special teams played a critical role in the game. The official stats show Allen was 0-6 on the power play and Wichita was 2-7. Allen scored a goal one second after a penalty expired so that is essentially a power play goal. One of Wichita's goals was also scored one second after a penalty expired. In that case the goal was really a 5-on-3 goal but it shows as a 5-on-4 goal. Nuances aside, Wichita took advantage of all of the special teams activity. The combined total of 13 power plays was the highest total in any of the 11 games Allen and Wichita have played this season. It was also only the second time in over a month the Americans gave up more than one power play goal in a game.
- Allen was outshot in the game 32-28. Maybe it is a meaningless stat since the shots were close. I will call it the odd stat of the day. In the 11 games this season with Wichita, the team with the most shots has won 10 of the 11.
- Goal scorers for Allen were J.C. Campagna (3,4) and Jack Combs (15). Here are the video highlights: https://youtu.be/48Gv5DhM9vA
- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/media/americans-drop-final-game-of-the-road-trip/
- Here is the game recap from the Wichita Thunder: https://www.wichitathunder.com/en/news/stephen-johnson-nets-game-winner-in-back-and-forth-contest-vs-allen
COACH'S CORNER WITH STEVE MARTINSON
"We weren't skating as hard last night and when that happens it leads to us taking penalties and turning the puck over."
"We have to have better special teams play tonight. That was the difference in the game last night."
"We may end up playing shorthanded again tonight. I won't know until later but there is a possibility D-Jay Jerome will be able to play tonight.
"Frank Marotte will get the start in goal tonight."
"I finalized a trade today which will bring us a veteran player for future considerations. When we get our injured players back and the addition of this veteran player, we will have three lines that can score."
REMATCH PREVIEW
- Allen certainly had a chance to win the game in Wichita last night and given the circumstances it was a decent effort. However, the Americans must find a way to get the win on their home ice tonight. The last time Wichita was in Allen (February 2) the Thunder won 3-1. Next week the Americans will be on the road for three games in Cincinnati and they don't need to be on a two game losing streak playing the Cyclones.
- The keys for Allen tonight would be the opposite of what happened in Wichita last night. The Americans need a better start, they need to perform better on special teams and they need to outshoot Wichita. If Allen can accomplish these three goals they will win.
- When Allen has been playing its best hockey lately it is because of skating hard, especially on defense. Something to look for tonight.
OTHER COMMENTS
- J.C. Campagna could not have had a better start since joining the Americans on this road trip. After not playing in the ECHL for over a year, he has played three games for Allen and has five points (4G,1A). He is already tied for #13 on the team in goals. J.C. has always been streaky goal scorer. When he was with Fort Wayne in 2018-19 he had a streak of scoring a goal in seven straight games and in 11 of 15 games. He had 13 goals in those 11 games.
- Kris Myllari has been an unsung hero all season and it showed on this three game road trip. Here are some of his stats from this trip and for the season:
- Had points in all three games on the road trip (1G, 3A)
- Had a plus/minus of +6 on the road trip
- Played a team high of 33 minutes, 21 seconds in the game on Wednesday
- Leads the team in blocked shots
- Has a team leading plus/minus of +21. The next highest defensemen is +4
- He has scored six goals this season, four of them were game winning goals
- Things sure change fast when it comes to the Mountain Division standings. After winning four of five from Kansas City, the Americans points percentage was getting close to third place in the standings. After the loss in Wichita last night, Allen is a lot closer to sixth place than third place. If Allen loses to Wichita tonight, the two teams will be in virtual tie for sixth place in the division (.5106 vs .5100).
- Rapid City lost in a shootout last night in Norfolk and Tulsa lost in regulation in Cincinnati. That was just enough for Rapid City to pass Tulsa in the standings. Here is the latest, with the team's record over the last 10 games in parenthesis:
- .635 - Utah (5-4-1-0)
- .602 - Idaho (6-2-2-0)
- .550 - Rapid City (4-4-1-1)
- .543 - Tulsa (3-5-1-1)
- .522 - Allen (5-4-1-0)
- .500 - Wichita (8-0-2-0)
- .480 - Kansas City (4-4-1-1)
DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about point scoring streaks. No surprise that Chad Costello owns the longest points scoring streak for Allen at 19 games which he accomplished in 2015-16. The strange thing about Chad's 19 game point streak is he had at least one assist is all 19 games. His 19 game assist streak is the second longest in ECHL history.
Hats
off to Greenville’s Liam Pecararo who had his 22 game point streak come
to an end last night. He had at least one point in every game he played
for Greenville since November 19. A total of 37 points (18G, 19A). The
last time a player had a 20+ game point streak In the ECHL was in
2007-08, when David Desharnais (Cincinnati) had a 27 game point streak.
Two years later Desharnais was in the NHL where he ended up playing 524
games. At 35, he is still playing professionally in Switzerland.
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