The Allen Americans lost to the Florida Everblades 8-5 last night before a small crowd of 1441 at the CUTX Event Center. The final score was much closer than the game Allen fans witnessed last night. The first two periods were the worst Allen has played all season. Uninspiring hockey with no passion or life up and down the lineup. To the Americans credit they won the third period, outshooting Florida 13-6 and outscoring them 3-2, but it was much too little much too late. Hopefully Allen can build on the third period last night to play better for a full 60 minutes on Friday.
- How bad were the first two periods? Florida scored the first goal of the game which is never a good sign since Allen's record when giving up the first goal is 6-18-0-0. The Everblades followed up their first goal with a second just 35 seconds later. Allen responded to make the score 2-1 on a power play goal from Colton Hargrove. Allen was being outplayed but were keeping the score close. That didn't last long as Florida scored its third goal of the period at the 17:56 mark and took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission. The Everblades out shot Allen 16-8 in the first period and had many more quality chances than the Americans. When you consider Florida has not lost a game all season when leading after the first period and how they were outplaying Allen, it felt like the game was already over after the first period.
- The second period was a repeat of the first period. Allen closed the gap to 3-2 on a Hank Crone goal early in the period but Florida responded with three more unanswered goals. The Everblades outshot Allen 19-8 in the period and took a 6-2 lead into the second intermission. The shot totals after two periods were 37-16.
- When you are getting blown out like Allen was last night after two periods, the third period becomes important. With two more games against Florida this weekend the Americans had to build some momentum by winning the third period. That is exactly what Allen did, outshooting Florida 13-6 and outscoring the Everblades 3-2. Allen took advantage of a couple of power plays on goals by Hargrove and Crone. Hargrove also had an even strength goal to complete his second hat trick in the last five games.
- If Allen is going ti stop the bleeding on Friday it will need a much better defensive effort from the entire team. Before the current three game losing streak, Allen had won 11 of 13 games and given up an average of 2.7 goals per game. In the last three games, all losses, all at home, Allen has allowed an average of 7.3 goals per game. You can't outscore bad defense no matter how much skill you have on your team. A three-game losing streak doesn't sound like much but only one other ECHL team currently has a longer streak. The last time Allen lost three straight games was over two months ago in early December.
- The goal scorers last night were Colton Hargrove (25,26,27) and Hank Crone (24,25). Here are the video highlights: https://www.echl.com/en/video/2023/2/florida-everblades-vs-allen-americans---feb-15-2023-livCKVam
- Here are the game recaps from both teams:
Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/media/game-recap-everblades-jump-on-americans-early-cruise-to-8-5-win/
Florida Everblades: https://allenamericans.com/media/game-recap-everblades-jump-on-americans-early-cruise-to-8-5-win/
- One bright spot last night was special teams. The Americans took only two minor penalties the entire game. Allen was 3-5 on the power play, Florida was 1-2. The Americans have climbed to #6 in the ECHL in overall power play percentage at 22.4% (47-210). The penalty kill is ranked #11 at 81.8%
OTHER COMMENTS
- The poor defensive play by the Americans last night took away from a couple of four-point offensive performances by Colton Hargrove (3G, 1A) and Hank Crone (2G, 2A). In addition, Liam Finlay had two assists and Jack Combs one. The "Four Sure" group all got points and had 73% (11-15) of Allen's points. Here are the current stats for the "Four Sure" gang:
- Hank Crone leads the ECHL in scoring (64 points)
- Jack Combs is second in the ECHL in scoring (61 points)
- Colton Hargrove is #1 in the ECHL in goals (27 points)
- Jack Combs is #2 in the ECHL in goals (26 points)
- Hank Crone in #3 in the ECHL in goals (25 points)
- Hank Crone is #3 in the ECHL in assists (39 assists)
- Hank Crone is #1 in the ECHL in rookie scoring (64 points)
- Liam Finlay is #3 in the ECHL in rookie scoring (48 points)
- Colton Hargrove is #1 in longest point streak in the ECHL (22 games)
- Hank Crone is #2 in the longest point streak in the ECHL (15 games)
- Jack Combs is #2 in the current longest point streak in the ECHL (10 games)
- Colton Hargrove has scored 23 goals in the last 21 games
- Colton Hargrove has scored nine goals in the last five games.
- The "Four Sure" gang has accounted for 62% (101 of 160) of Allen's goals this season
- Despite Allen's losing streak it has not lost ground in the standings because the other teams have also been struggling. The Mountain Division has one team with a points percentage above second place Wichita's points percentage. Here are the number of teams in each division with a points percentage above .571:
- 1 - Mountain (Idaho)
- 4 - Central (Indy, Cincinnati, Toledo, Fort Wayne)
- 5 - South (Florida, Jacksonville, South Carolina, Greenville, Atlanta)
- 3 - North (Newfoundland, Maine, Reading)
- Here are the points earned by each Mountain Division team over the last 10 games. Maximum would be 20 points.
- 16 points: Idaho
- 12 points: Allen
- 12 points: Kansas City
- 11 points: Utah
- 9 points: Tulsa
- 7 points: Wichita
- 6 points: Rapid City
- Friday night three Mountain Division teams will take on opponents outside the division. In addition to Florida at Allen, Utah is at Savannah and Toledo is at Rapid City. The only in-division game is Idaho at Kansas City. Tulsa and Wichita are idle.
- DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about point streaks. Colton Hargrove's current 22 game point streak is the longest in Allen's history. You have to go back to the 2007-08 season to find an ECHL point streak longer than 22 games. David Desharnais (Cincinnati) had a 27 game points streak in 2007-08 as a rookie and scored 106 points (his only season in the ECHL). Two years later he was in the NHL where he played 524 games.
A loss is a loss and you are who you are. Meaning that we can't let a 2 1/2 week stretch of sold play erase the memory of how this team had been playing before and after our winning stretch. Talking with Tommy the other day and the point he made was that this team won't be consistently good until the bottom half of the roster starts playing. We can't keep relying on the top 4 point guys on the roster. He went on to say that the only solution he and the coaching staff can come up with to combat our lackluster play is to unleash our top dogs and play without a care for defense.
ReplyDeleteInteresting and very out of touch comment from the team’s broadcaster. It’s quite simply the opposite. The top dogs playing without a care for defense is the reason the team has struggled. The bottom half of the lineup and the goalies aren’t even close to the problem.
DeleteGood grief. I’ve been saying forever. Of course you can’t blame the bottom half, because they are hardly on the ice. The 3rd and 4th line has got to get more ice time and shoulder some load. They come on and are off in ten seconds. Hargrove is on the ice all night. I’m not saying they have to score but if they come on and forecheck then it gives us better scoring opportunities as the other team changes lines and our “A-Team” comes on. Although Tommy’s thoughts are probably not his own, he is correct. Funny you don’t hear that kind of talk in the broadcast. Yuk.
DeleteWe love to support our team. But time to have hard talk. You can’t be a good hockey team without balance. Our “A-Team” is fatigued. Not from lack of effort. But I saw some heads hang on Wednesday after a turnover here and there. I’d rather get beat with our team trying to be balanced, than Hargrove scoring a meaningless junk time hat trick. Yuk forget it. I still look at Utah series as good example of a little better balance. Oh and Robidouiauaioux may not be dealing with a full deck. That dude is no Zane Franklin. -Bobby 226
Why are the “top dogs” only fatigued in the defensive end? Lots of energy in the offensive zone. These are professional athletes. They’re not fatigued.
DeleteI spoke with Biscuit after the game on Wednesday. He thinks the best way to win is for all the guys to share a Coors light with him in the locker room in between periods. Just slide the cooler “acrossed” the locker room to each person so they don’t tire themselves out walking to and from their lockers. Fair point Biscuit. Fair point. -Bobby 226
DeleteThanks Barry. How long before one or more of the group gets called up?
ReplyDelete