It is game day and another critical weekend for the Allen
Americans as they try to move into a playoff spot in the Mountain
Division. A great opportunity to do just that as the Americans take on
the team just ahead of them in the standings, the Tulsa Oilers, in two road games.
- Allen has played Tulsa seven times this season, all since January 7. Allen's record in those seven games is 2-3-2-0 The Americans record in Tulsa is 1-1-2-0. The
easy conclusion to draw from the games against Tulsa it is feast or famine for the Americans offense. The two Allen wins were 6-3 and 8-0 but in the five losses Allen scored 2,1,1,1,4 goals. The Americans lost the game when they scored four goals by a score 5-4 because they gave up three power play goals. You add it all up and Allen scored 15 goals in its two wins and nine goals in the five losses.
Allen is not the type of team that is going to win
1-0 or 2-1 games. The Americans need plenty of offense. They have scored two or fewer goals 20 times this season and lost 19 of the 20 games.
- Here is a comparison between Allen and Tulsa:
- Points Percentage: Allen .510, Tulsa .519
- Last 10 games: Allen 4-5-1-0, Tulsa 2-6-1-1
- Goals Scored: Allen 168, Tulsa 158
- Goals Allowed: Allen 179, Tulsa 172
- Goal Differential: Allen -11, Tulsa-14
- Power Play Percentage: Allen 18.4%, Tulsa 16.9%
- Penalty Kill Percentage: Allen 79.6%, Tulsa 81.6%
- The stats above are season long stats. If you look at the seven head to head games here are the stats:
- Goals: Allen 23, Tulsa 20
- Shots: Allen 190, Tulsa 267
- Power Play %: Allen 26.9%, Tulsa 34.8%
- Special teams will clearly play a role this weekend. There are typically not a lot of power play opportunities when Allen plays Tulsa. They average fewer than four power plays per game.
- Scoring first has been key in the games against Tulsa this season. The team scoring first has won six of the seven games.
- If you are looking for players to watch tonight the veterans have led both teams in scoring in this series. Adam Pleskach has always played well against Allen. He leads Tulsa with three goals and five assists in the seven games against Allen this season. Allen's top scorers against Tulsa the season are Chad Costello with 13 points (5G, 8A), Jack Combs with eight points (1G, 7A) and Spencer Asuchak with eight points (3G, 5A). The Allen stats are lofty, in part, because the Americans beat the Oilers 8-0 in January.
- Allen's offense is a lot stronger since the last time the Americans played Tulsa. J.C. Campagna, Ryan Lohin, Josh Winquist and Branden Troock weren't in the lineup in the last game. Clearly, plenty of firepower has been added to the lineup.
COACH'S CORNER WITH STEVE MARTINSON
"We have one extra player on the trip today. It will be a game time decision as to who will sit out."
"Luke Peressini will get the start in goal."
"We have been playing better defensively but we need to generate more offensive against Tulsa and we have to do that with out cheating.
"We have a stronger lineup now than the last time we played Tulsa."
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