We just got back from a great trip to the Madeira Islands, Canary Islands, Morocco and Senegal just it time to see the Allen Americans snap a four game losing streak and end Kansas City's 12 game point streak. The Americans won 4-2 last night before a crowd of 3528 at the Cable Dahmer Arena. The Americans used a combination of a goal just after a power play expired, a shorthanded goal, a goal with 1.5 seconds left in the period and an empty net goal to to get their third win in Kansas City this season. The Mavericks have lost just eight games in regulation all season and three of them have come at home against the Americans.
- After a scoreless first period the Americans scored the first goal of the game at the 4:05 mark of the second period on an Eric Williams unassisted seeing eye goal from the high slot. Allen took a 2-0 lead at the 9:15 mark on Gavin Gould's second shorthanded goal of the season. Kansas City had not given up a shorthanded goal all season before Gould made a great play to light the lamp. The Mavericks were the last team in the ECHL to allow a shorthanded goal.
- Kansas City cut the score to 2-1 but Allen regained its two goal lead on Colby McAuley's team leading 18th goal of the season. It was a big momentum goal for Allen as it came with 1.5 seconds remaining in the second period. Allen took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission and the stats were really in the Americans favor.
- Allen's road record when leading after the second period is a perfect 9-0-0-0.
- Kansas City's home record when trailing after the second period is a perfect 0-6-0-0.
- Despite the favorable odds Kansas City put plenty of pressure on the Americans in the third period. Allen had to kill off a penalty and nearly half of the Mavericks shots in the game (14 of 30) came in the third period. Kansas City cut the score to 3-2 with less than three minutes remaining on David Cotton's second goal of the game. Kansas City pulled the goalie at the 18:02 mark and manged five shots on goal before Blake Murray won a puck battle along the boards and put Ty Fournier in all alone on an empty net for the final goal with 1.7 seconds remaining. Goalie Marco Constantini, making the first ECHL start of his career, was excellent in goal especially in the third period. He finished the game stopping 28 of 30 shots for a .933 save percentage.
- Goals scorers for Allen were Eric Williams (3), Gavin Gould (5), Colby McAuley (18) and Ty Fournier (6). It was one of those strange games where Allen had four goals but only three assists (Robidoux, Hebert, Murray). Here is a great highlight package put together by the Kansas City Mavericks that includes all of the goals, some great saves by both goalies and some of the chippy stuff that went on in the game. https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-kansas-city-mavericks-jan-26-2024
- Here is the game recap issued by the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/01/americans-silence-kc-with-4-2-victory
- Some stats from the Mountain Division standings:
- The teams just ahead of Allen (Tulsa) and behind Allen (Rapid City) both lost last night.
- With the Allen win the Americans have moved back into a playoff spot.
- Despite Allen's four game losing streak the Americans have the second best record in the division over the last 10 games (6-4-0-0). Only other team with a winning record is Kansas City (8-1-1-0).
- Allen's road record improved to 11-10-1-0. The home record is 7-11-0-0 but when you consider Allen started 0-5-0-0 it is much improved.
- Here are the Mountain Division standings by points with point percentage in parenthesis:
- 58 points - Kansas City (.763)
- 54 points - Idaho (.692)
- 39 points - Tulsa (.513)
- 37 points - Allen (.463)
- 36 points - Rapid City (.450)
- 34 points - Utah (.436)
- 29 points - Wichita (.382)
- The Mountain Division has two of the strongest teams in the ECHL in Kansas City and Idaho but the division also has more teams with a losing record (4) than any other division. The Central Division has just one and the other two divisions (North and South) have two.
RUBBER MATCH PREVIEW
- The Americans will have quite the challenge tonight in the third game of this series. Remember the game starts early (6:05 pm). Kansas City has lost just one series all season (to Idaho) and has not lost back to back games in regulation all season.
- One of the keys to the game last night for coach Costello was to take fewer penalties than Kansas City and that didn't happen. Allen had five power play opportunities but Kansas City had six. Neither team managed to score a power play goal but Costello's key of fewer penalties than the Mavericks remains for tonight. Over the last five games Allen has allowed 26 power play opportunities while having just 16 of their own. That is not a winning formula.
- Allen scored first last night and improved its record when scoring first to 13-5-1-0 (.711). Kansas City is almost unbeatable when scoring first with a record of 20-2-0-1 (.891). The Americans do not want to play from behind tonight. If Allen can score first and gain the momentum the Americans could take the series. If Kansas City gets the good start it could be a long night for the Americans.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Not sure how much this was talked about while I was on vacation but I want to mention Kris Myllari giving up his chance to play in the ECHL All-Star game because he didn't want to miss the Allen game that was scheduled the same day. Being selected as an all-star is a big honor and to forgo what may be his only chance to play in the game says a lot about his character, commitment and leadership. From my reporting it wasn't even a close call for Kris, he was staying with the team. As I have said before players shouldn't be put in position to choose between staying with their team or the All-Star game. The ECHL needs to have no games on All-Star game day just like the other leagues, so everyone can participate.
- Adirondack shutout Newfoundland 4-0 last night to extend its unbeaten streak to 12 games, the longest in the ECHL this season. Adirondack has a 17 point lead in the North Division and a .756 points percentage. Every other team in the division has a point percentage below .530.
- Allen almost broke it's perfect record last night of not winning a game when outshooting an opponent. The Americans had the shot advantage until Kansas City outshot Allen 5-1 in the last 117 seconds of the game. The Mavericks ended up with a 30-28 shot advantage. Allen has outshot its opponent just four times in in 40 games (10%) this season and is 0-4-0-0 in those games.
DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL stats post today is about teams with very high road power play percentages. Allen's road power play percentage is 20.0% and over the last five games it is just 12.5%.
Playing well on the road goes a long way to team success. Stick taps to the four ECHL teams that have road power play percentages above 29%. That is higher than any ECHL team’s home power play percentage. The team’s overall power play percentage is in parenthesis:
Remember tonight homers - remember it in April when you aren't in the play-offs - Remember it next October when you suck out of the gates like usual - A team of quitters and losers...a complete a bunch of heartless gutless clowns on this "team" Now get mad at me because they suck
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