The Allen Americans finished their regular season with Idaho last night and it ended in another loss. The final score was 5-4 before another sellout crowd (5144) at the Idaho Central Arena. Idaho finished the 11 game head-to-head series this season against Allen with a record of 8-3 including 7-1 at home.
- The game last night was similar to the Friday night loss in many ways:
- Idaho scored first as they did in all three games in the series.
- Allen came back from first period deficits both nights (1-0 & 2-0) to tie the score at the end of the first period.
- Idaho dominated the second period both nights outscoring Allen 3-0 to put the games out of hand.
- Friday night Idaho outshot Allen 14-6 in the second period. Last night was even worse as the Steelheads outshot the Americans 17-1 in the second period. The one shot is tied for the fewest shots in any period in the ECHL this season.
- Allen played its best period both nights in the third. Friday night Allen outshot Idaho 18-9 in the third period and outscored the Steelheads 1-0, but the rally fell short. Last night Allen outshot Idaho 12-7 in the third period and outscored the Steelheads 2-0, but the rally fell short.
- The combined stats for Friday and Saturday show how the first periods were even, the second periods were dominated by Idaho and the third periods were dominated by Allen. Unfortunately the Allen comebacks fell short both nights:
- Shots
- 1st period: 28-17 Idaho
- 2nd period: 32-7 Idaho
- 3rd period: 30-16 Allen
- Goals
- 1st period 3-3 tied
- 2nd period 6-0 Idaho
- 3rd period 3-0 Allen
- Allen goal scorers were Nolan Orzeck (5), Easton Brodzinski (18), Bennett MacArthur (5) and Eric Williams (4). Hank Crone had two assists in the game and has moved into the #7 spot in the ECHL with 31 assists in 33 games. Here are the video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-idaho-steelheads-feb-3-2024
- Here are the game recaps from both teams:
- Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/02/game-recap-americans-swept-in-three-game-series-in-idaho
- Idaho Steelheads: https://idahosteelheads.com/news/2024/02/steelheads-complete-sweep-over-americans-with-5-4-victory
- It seems like in each game in Idaho when the Americans were rallying something happened. Last night Allen scored two third period goals to cut the score to 5-4 with over 10 minutes remaining in the game. An ill advised offensive zone penalty when Allen was on the power play seemed to kill the momentum. The Americans did get one more power play opportunity late in the the game but could not capitalize. They came close after pulling the goalie but could not get the equalizer.
- The sweep in Idaho proved costly for Allen in the standings. Allen has fallen to sixth place in the Mountain Division. Since January 12 the Americans record is 1-6-1-1. And if you thought things will get better after this tough six game road trip to Kansas City and Idaho you may have to rethink expectations. Allen is about to get a heavy dose of the Tulsa Oilers who have a better record over the last 10 games than Idaho. Tulsa has won six of its last eight games with a record of 6-1-1-0. In a 10 day period between February 7-17 Allen and Tulsa will play five times, but four of the five will be home games for the Americans.
- This week's results have solidified what has been the case for a while. The top two teams in the division (Kansas City & Idaho) will not be caught and the bottom team (Wichita) is destined for last place. That leaves four teams vying for two playoff spots and Tulsa's recent success is turning it into three teams (Rapid City, Allen, Utah) vying for one playoff spot. Here are the Mountain Division standings by points with points percentage in parenthesis:
- 66 points - Kansas City (.786)
- 60 points - Idaho (.682)
- 46 points - Tulsa (.548)
- 40 points - Rapid City (.465)
- 39 points - Utah (.453
- 39 points - Allen (.443)
- 30 points - Wichita (.357)
I guess I can go ahead and use my playoff ticket money for some other extravagant purchase now?
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