If you believe in the adage that any road win in the ECHLis great the Americans 4-3 win in Kansas City yesterday was a success. A raucous Kids Day Game crowd of 4021 watched the Mavericks outshoot Allen 52-17 but fall short on the scoreboard.
- Despite the wide disparity in shots a lot went well for the Americans in the game.:
- Grant Hebert scored the first goal of the game and the only goal of the first period.
- Allen outscored Kansas City 2-1 in the second period on goals by Colby McAuley and Colton Hargrove to take a 3-1 lead into the second intermission.
- Hargrove scored his second goal of the game early in the third period to give Allen a 4-1 lead.
- Allen only had 17 shots but most of them were grade A shots and the Americans made the most of them. Four goals on 17 shots equates to a shooting percentage of 23.5%.
- Allen won on special teams going 1-3 on the power play and 0-3 on the penalty kill.
- Mark Sinclair was great in goal making 49 saves with a save percentage of .942.
- Despite the positives and the win the Allen defense continues to struggle. The Americans have given up 40 or more shots in all seven if its games topped by the 52 shots allowed against Kansas City. Allen has managed to win three games this season, but has been out shot by wide margins in all of them which is not a formula for long term success. Here are the shots in Allen's three wins:
- 45-19: Allen beat Idaho 5-2 in the opening game of the season.
- 48-27: Allen won 6-5 in overtime in Tulsa
- 52-17: Allen won 4-3 in Kansas City
- 145-63: Total shots in three victories
- Allen had a 4-1 lead with less then 11 minutes remaining in the game yesterday, but surrendered two goals to let the Mavericks back in the game. The Americans goal differential (goals for minus goals allowed) gets worse as games progress. Here is the goal differential by period:
- -1: 1st Period
- -5: 2nd Period
- -6: 3rd Period
- Goal scorers for Allen were Grant Hebert (2), Colby McAuley (3) and Colton Hargrove (4,5). Kris Myllari and Eric Williams had two assists: Here are the video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-kansas-city-mavericks-nov-7-2023
- The Americans flew back to Allen last night and will now prepare for three games in three days against Kansas City at the CUTX Event Center. Three games in three days is always tough especially with an older team like Allen. To make matters worse after playing Friday night and Saturday night the game on Sunday starts at 2:10 pm.
- Liam Finlay has missed the last three games from what was described by coach Costello as not feeling well. It is a day-to-day issue so hopefully he will be back for the weekend. Allen will also have an additional defenseman, Justin Allen, who was just acquired from Norfolk in a trade. It is unlikely Allen will get any players from Belleville for this weekend, but if you have been following the injury reports from Ottawa and Belleville several injured players are close to returning to the lineup.
OTHER COMMENTS
- The last time an Allen goalie had more than 49 saves was the last game of the 2022-23 season when Allen defeated Wichita 5-4 in a shootout. Kevin Mandolese made 50 saves including 11 in the overtime period. The 49 saves by Sinclair yesterday is the most saves in a regulation game since Allen joined the ECHL in 2014-15.
- Last season when Allen made its run from last place in the division to second place, Colton Hargrove had a three month period when he scored 28 goals in 29 games. He has started this season in a similar fashion. Hargrove missed the first two games of the season. In five games he has eight points (5G, 3A) to lead the team in points and goals.
- Allen's 3-2-0-0 road record means only one other ECHL team has earned more road points than the Americans. Rapid City has earned eight road points. Allen along with five other teams have six road points.
- With the win yesterday Allen is now all alone in fifth place in the Mountain Division in points (6) and points percentage (.429). Allen and Maine are the only ECHL teams without a home win.
- The two hottest teams in the ECHL right now are Atlanta and Idaho who are both on six game winning streaks. FYI, Atlanta has eight NHL/AHL contracted players, but Idaho is close to the bottom of the list (see below) with just three contract players.
DID YOU KNOW: Here is my ECHL Stats post for today. Notice there are two teams with nine contract players not in a playoff position and four teams with two, three or four contract players in playoff positions.
The pattern of giving up a ton of shots has been a multi year problem, it’s nothing new. Until they prioritize defense it will continue to be a drag on the team. Championship winning teams play defense too.
ReplyDeleteYup. This isn’t the same team as last year that squeaked by on offensive output. Crone and Combs are gone. This current team will be lucky to win 1/4th of their games being out shot like they are. Hope Costello can figure it out.. if not, bring in the goons and play Trasher hockey.
DeleteRelatively new to this level of pro hockey but could the core issue be solid defensive hockey from forwards at this level is not flashy enough to get you noticed. Defense can be added to a scorer's repertoire through coaching. To get to the next level you gotta demonstrate the ability to fill a stat sheet first.
ReplyDeleteDing ding ding. The forwards don’t play defense because they’re only worried about points and goals. When half your team is only playing half of the game (offense and no defense) then it’s easy to see what we’re seeing. Everyone puts their excuses on not having crone and combs and whoever else, when I’m reality they were part of this same problem as well. We need the team to gel and defense to be a priority to more guys than just the defenseman. Also the blind loyalty to friends and personal favorites will be the death of this team.
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