Allen Gives Up First Four Goals in Loss to Idaho, Game Recap, Video Highlights. Pochiro Hits 100 Goal Milestone, Combs Leads ECHL in Percentage of Team's Points and More

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

The Allen Americans gave up the first four goals on Wednesday night at the Idaho Central Arena, falling 7-4 to the Idaho Steelheads. It didn’t take long for Idaho to take the lead, scoring a power play goal at the 2:03 mark of the first period. The Steelheads followed that up with another goal at the 8:16 mark and took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. It looked bleak at that point. Any chance for a comeback by Allen was quickly dashed early in the second period when Idaho scored its third goal 40 seconds after puck drop and a fourth goal 78 seconds later.

 

- Allen scored two unanswered goals to cut the score to 4-2 on a Jared Bethune shorthanded goal and Liam Finlay power play goal, but Idaho took a 5-2 lead into the second intermission.

 

- The Americans scored two more goals in the third period after Idaho took a 6-2 lead. Zach Pochiro scored the 100th goal of his ECHL career and Jack Combs scored a power play goal. Idaho scored an empty net goal with a minute remaining in the game to make the final score 7-4. 

 

- Goal scorers for Allen were Jared Bethune (1), Liam Finlay (6), Zach Pochiro (6) and Jack Combs (8). Here is the game recap issued by the Allen Americans with more details: https://allenamericans.com/media/game-recap-americans-fall-is-idaho/  

 

- Here are the video highlights with all 11 goals: https://www.echl.com/en/video/2022/11/allen-americans-vs-idaho-steelheads---nov-23-2022-BDEnkgvf

- A lot went wrong for the Americans in their defeat last night. Here are a few examples:

• Allen took an early penalty which led to Idaho's first goal. It wasn't a good sign when you consider Idaho has not lost all season when scoring first (8-0) and Allen has not won when giving up the first goal (0-6).
• Idaho had the lead after the first period. Another bad sign as Allen is 0-5 when trailing after the first period and Idaho is 5-0 when leading after the first period.
  
• Allen allowed 42 shots, the second highest all season. The Americans were outshot 42-33. They have now allowed 40+ shots in three straight games.
  
• Allen allowed seven goals which is the most all season. The previous high was four goals.
• Prior to last night the Americans had allowed seven goals just one time in over a year.
  

 

- With all of the bad there were some positives from the game last night.

• Allen takes close to seven minor penalties per game, last night they took just two.
• Allen capitalized on its power play opportunities scoring two power play goals (2-4)
• Allen scored its first shorthand goal of the season. The Americans are one of two ECHL teams (Tulsa the other) that have not allowed a shorthanded goal this season. A big improvement from last season when Allen scored seven shorthanded goals but allowed 20.
• Allen scored four goals last night against an Idaho team that was allowing an average of 1.85 goals per game.  

 

OTHER COMMENTS

 - Zach Pochiro scored his 100th ECHL goal last night playing in his 291st ECHL game. Some facts:

• 58 of Zach's 100 goals were scored while playing for the Allen Americans.
• Zach has averaged a half a goal per game in his 117 games played with Allen.
• In 2018-19 Zach led Allen with 34 goals in 63 games and finished #3 in the ECHL. 

 

- With the loss last night the Americans are back under .500 on a record of 5-6-1-0. Allen's loss combined with Tulsa's win over Wichita has the Americans tied for last place in the Mountain Division standings. Here are the current standings by points percentage:

• .821 - Idaho
• .667 - Wichita
• .625 - Kansas City
• .500 - Rapid City
• .462 - Utah
• .458 - Tulsa
• .458 - Allen

 

- There was some shuffling last night for the best record in the ECHL. Here are the four teams with points percentages above .800. FYI, the only time an ECHL team has ever finished a season with a points percentage above .800 was way back in 2001-02 when the Louisiana IceGators finished at .806 with a record of 56-12-4.

• .867 - Worcester
• .864 - Cincinnati
• .833 - Newfoundland
• .821 - Idaho  

- There are three games scheduled in the ECHL today. Greenville at Orlando, Savannah at Atlanta and Cincinnati at Fort Wayne. Here is the ECHL Today with the previews: https://www.echl.com/en/news/2022/11/echl-today-nov-24

 

- Tomorrow I will do my annual story about how all but three or four ECHL playoff teams are already decided. Always a fun look this early in the season. 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: Was surprised this morning when researching the ECHL Stats post for today to find Jack Combs has a higher percentage of his team's points than any other player in the league. 

 

Here are the ECHL players with the highest percentage of their team’s total points thus far this season:

 

18.7% - Jack Combs, Allen

17.4% - Shane Harper, Adirondack

16.1% - *Max Newton, Reading

16.0% - *Pat Guay, Savannah

15.3% - Zach O’Brien, Newfoundland

15.1% - Andrew Nielsen, Utah

 

*Rookies