The Allen Americans finished the weekend on a sour note losing to the Kansas City Mavericks 4-2 before a crowd of 2325 at the CUTX Event Center. Allen's home record is now 0-5, its road record is 3-2. The three game sweep by Kansas City had something in common, third period penalties played a big part in all three losses.
- Yesterday with the game tied 2-2 and less than seven minutes remaining, Allen took a five minute major penalty when Colton Hargrove collided knee on knee with a Kansas City player. Hargrove was also given a game misconduct. The result was the Mavericks took the last eight shots in the game, scoring a power play goal and empty net goal.
- Despite the lopsided shot total (45-24) the Americans had control for much of the game. There was no scoring in the first period. Allen scored the first goal of the game at the 4:15 mark of the second period on Colby McAuley's fourth goal of the season. Less than two minutes later Kansas City tied the score 1-1. Allen took a 2-1 lead at the 12:32 mark when Spencer Asuchak scored a power play goal, his first of the season. It was Asuchak's first goal since the final game of the 2021-22 season when he scored two goals that helped Allen secure a playoff spot.
- Allen took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. When you consider ECHL home teams with a second period lead this season have a record of 48-4-1-2 (.900) it looked good for the Americans. However, Kansas City tied the score 2-2 early in the third period. Then Allen took two penalties, a two minute penalty and a five minute major penalty which left the Americans little even strength time to get the go ahead goal. In those final 13 minutes Kansas City outshot Allen 16-3, scored a power play goal and an empty net goal to make the final score 4-2.
- A big part of the shot differential in the game can be attributed to the disparity in power play opportunities. Allen had four power play opportunities and scored one power play goal. Kansas City had eight power play opportunities and scored one power play goal. Add the power play disparity of 5-1 on Saturday and the two day totals were 13 power plays for Kansas City, just five for Allen.
- Allen scored the first goal of the game yesterday, but that hasn't been much of an advantage. The Americans have scored first in half of their games but has a record of 2-3 when scoring first.
- Here is the game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2023/11/americans-lose-another-tight-battle
- Here are the video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/kansas-city-mavericks-vs-allen-americans-nov-12-2023
- It won't get any easier for the Allen Americans this week as they fly to Boise tomorrow for games on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday against the Steelheads. Idaho has a record of 8-2. The two losses were opening night against Allen and last Saturday at Wheeling.
- Roster changes this week include the addition of forward Solag Bakich who arrived last night and the deletion of Kevin Mandolese who is headed back to Belleville. Mandolese played in two games this weekend and lost both of them, but his save percentage was .918. He faced 85 shots in his two games.
- Another possible roster change could be a suspension for Colton Hargrove. His major penalty and game misconduct penalty will be automatically reviewed by the league. The rule (50.3 - Kneeing) under which Hargrove was penalized says the referee may assess a major penalty at his discretion, based on the severity of the infraction. The game misconduct penalty is automatic with a major kneeing penalty. There is no specified suspension for this penalty, it falls under the infamous Rule 28 which gives the Commissioner discretion to investigate and suspend players for any offense. Based on history, the Americans don't seem to get many of these type of decisions to go their way, but in this case there is a decent chance Hargrove won't be suspended. Coach Costello will have to hope for the best and plan for the worst.
- I wouldn't be surprised to see other roster changes this week as general manager Chad Costello works to improve the team that finds itself with a .300 points percentage. Only one ECHL team has a lower points percentage.
- How difficult has the start of the season been for Allen? Here are a few stats:
- Allen has lost three straight games.
- Allen is 0-5 at home.
- Allen's record of 3-7-0-0 is worse than last season's start (4-5-1-0).
- Allen has lost four of its last five games.
- Allen has lost seven of its last nine of its last nine games.
- Allen has seven players on injured reserve.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Here are the top three teams in each ECHL division by points percentage. Are some division champions already emerging?
- NORTH DIVISION
- .900 - Trois Riviéres
- .636 - Norfolk
- .563 - Adirondack
- SOUTH DIVISION
- 1.000 - Atlanta
- .778 - Greenville
- .563 - Jacksonville
- CENTRAL DIVISION
- .786 - Toledo
- .625 - Wheeling
- .625 - Cincinnati
- MOUNTAIN DIVISION
- .833 - Kansas City
- .800 - Idaho
- .571 - Utah
- Allen played Atlanta at home on October 28 and 29. The Americans won't play another team outside the division until March 15 when Allen visits Kalamazoo for three games. The next time Allen will play a team outside the division at home isn't until April 5 when the Americans take on Adirondack.
DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today compares attendance in the ECHL and AHL. FYI, the Americans average attendance of 3668 is better than six AHL franchises including Allen's AHL affiliate Belleville, who averages only 2670 per game.
Crone assigned to Allen
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