Losing Streak Reaches Five, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Tonight's Preview, Allen Trades for Defenseman Nolan Orzeck and More

The Allen Americans extended their losing streak to a league leading five games last night, losing 5-1 before a sellout crowd of 5261 in Idaho. If I told you the game was tied 0-0 after the first period and Allen outshot Idaho 17-13 in the second period you would think Allen was having a good night. Unfortunately the Steelheads scored four unanswered goals on their 13 second period shots to blow the game wide open while Allen was scoreless on its 17 shots.

 

- Idaho scored two goals in 120 seconds early in the second period and two power play goals in 65 seconds late in the period and the game was essentially over. Allen managed to break up the shutout at the 12:43 mark of the third period on Spencer Asuchak's second goal in the last three games, but it was much to little and much too late. Idaho got a late third period goal to make the final score 5-1. 

 

- Shot totals after the first two periods was 29-28. That all changed when Idaho outshot Allen 20-8 in the third period to make the final shot totals 49-36. The high shot totals can be partly attributed to the plethora of power play opportunities. Idaho had eight power plays and scored two power play goals. Allen was 0-5 on the power play. 

 

- After two games of this three game series Idaho leads in goals (11-3), shots (107-61), power play opportunities (13-10) and power play goals (3-2). It will take a Herculean effort for Allen to avoid a sweep tonight. With the win last night Idaho improved its record to 10-2-0-0 (.833) which is ranked #2 in the ECHL only trailing Kansas City who has a record of 11-2-0-0 (.846). With the loss Allen's record is 3-9-0-0 (.250) and the Americans now have the worst record in the ECHL.

 

-  Here are the game recaps from both teams with more details:

• Allen Americans:  https://allenamericans.com/news/2023/11/big-second-period-leads-idaho-over-the-americans   
• Idaho Steelheads: https://idahosteelheads.com/news/2023/11/steelheads-win-sixth-straight-at-home-defeating-americans-5-1

 

- Here are the video highlights with all of the goals and some great saves:  https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-idaho-steelheads-nov-17-2023  

 

TONIGHT'S PREVIEW

- Nothing has changed in terms of what it will take for Allen to get points tonight in the last of the three games against Idaho. A good start, keep Idaho under 40 shots on goal and win the special teams battle. 

• Allen gave up the first goal of the game on Wednesday and last night. Idaho had leads of 3-0 on Wednesday and 4-0 last night. Allen has to score the first goal of the game tonight to win the game.
• Allen has to stay out of the penalty box and avoid stick penalties. Last night Idaho had eight power play opportunities. Allen took one penalty (way behind the play) that negated breakaway. The referee tonight will be the same as the first two games, so the Americans need to adapt to how he calls penalties.
• Shots for and against have been a problem for Allen all season. Allen has allowed less than 40 shots one time all season and that was 38 shots. This matchup is particularly tough because Idaho is #1 in the ECHL in shots for per game (40.92) and Allen is #28 in shots allowed (45.92). The Americans will not win the game tonight if they get outshot and allow 40+ shots to the Steelheads. 
• In the first two games Allen was 2-10 (20%) on the power play and Idaho was 3-13 (23.1%). Allen needs to win on special teams if they expect to earn points tonight.

 

- Against a team as good as Idaho the Americans will have to be almost mistake free for the full 60 minutes and even that may not be enough. A good example of just how good Idaho is right now. The Steelheads seventh defenseman last night was an AHL contracted player.

 

- Third period scoring may be the difference in the game tonight. Allen's third period goal differential is -13 (10 goals for, 23 against). Idaho's third period goal differential is +6 (18 goals for, 12 against). Allen can't be playing from behind in this game. 

 

- After facing 102 shots in two games against Idaho, I would expect Mark Sinclair to get a rest tonight and Chase Perry will get the start. It is a tough position for Perry with so much time between starts. His first start was October 29, his second was November 3 and he hasn't played since.

 OTHER COMMENTS

- Allen acquired defenseman Nolan Orzeck from Iowa yesterday after acquiring defenseman Andrew Jarvis from Tulsa the day before. Dalton Gally was injured in the game on Wednesday and will out a while. 

- Orzeck led all Iowa defensemen in points last season with 34 (6G, 28A) but had a slow start this season,  no points in seven games. Orzeck is a 5'11" 175 pound, 22 year old, right shot defenseman from Calgary. He played his junior hockey in the Western Hockey League. In his last year in the WHL playing for the Winnipeg Ice, he had 43 points (6G, 37A) in 66 games and led his team in plus/minus at +62. His +62 plus/minus was the highest for any player in any of the major junior leagues in Canada (WHL. OHL, QMJHL) in 2021-22.  Here is an interview with Nolan when he re-signed with Iowa in July. FYI, he is driving to Allen from Iowa and will meet the team when they return from Idaho.

- Despite all of the losses Allen is fortunate to be in the Mountain Division where only two teams are above .500 and they are way above .500. As bad as it has been for Allen a playoff spot is not far away. Here are the points percentages with games played in parenthesis: 

• .846 - Kansas City (13 games)
• .833 - Idaho (12 games)
• .500 - Tulsa (11 games)
• .444 - Utah (9 games)
• .423 - Wichita (13 games)
• .375 - Rapid City (12 games)
• .250 - Allen (12 games)

- Allen's schedule had the Americans playing 11 of their first 13 games against three of the best teams in the league (Kansas City, Idaho, Atlanta). All have points percentages above .800 and their cumulative record is 29-6-0-0 (.829). The hope was Allen would start winning consistently after this road trip to Idaho. Next week Allen plays one game in Wichita and two in Tulsa. It might not be so easy for the Americans. Tulsa won three straight on the road last week and plays Kansas City three times this week. Wichita is 2-2 in its last four games and won at home last night. The next month will be a tough slog for the Allen Americans.

 

 

-  The ECHL leader in points is a rookie. Max Andreev (Kansas City) has 20 points (3G, 17A) in 13 games. The ECHL two leading goalies in GAA are also rookies. Evan Cormier (Florida) has a 1.45 GAA and Gustavs Grigals (Atlanta) has a 1.98 GAA. These are the only two ECHL goalies with a GAA under 2.00.

- There are 11 games on the schedule today. Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews:  https://echl.com/news/2023/11/echl-today-nov-18

 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: Thanksgiving is coming up next week and I will do my annual blog post on 80% of the playoff teams are already decided. Here is the ECHL Stats post for today on the same topic:

 

It is still very early in the season, but playing the “if playoffs started today” game there are some very wide gaps in points percentages in three of the four divisions and one sub .500 team would make the playoffs:

 

NORTH

.818 - Trois Rivières

.611 - Adirondack

.583 - Norfolk

.500 - Newfoundland 

 

SOUTH

.833 - Greenville

.800 - Atlanta

.542 - Florida

.500 - Orlando & Jacksonville 

 

CENTRAL

.778 - Toledo

.600 - Wheeling

.600 - Cincinnati

.556 - Fort Wayne 

 

MOUNTAIN

.846 - Kansas City

.833 - Idaho

.500 - Tulsa

.444 - Utah