Allen Dominates in Victory, Game Recaps, Video Highlights, Costello Comments, Rematch Preview, Attendance Record and More

 

The Allen Americans scored on their first shot of the game last night just 69 seconds after the opening puck drop which started an avalanche of goals. The result was an 8-4 victory over the Wichita Thunder before a crowd of 5191 at INTRUST Bank Arena. 

 

-  Allen scored five first period goals which is the most in the ECHL this season and led 5-0 after the first period. Bennett MacArthur scored the first two goals, his eighth and ninth of the season. Other goal scorers were Tarun Fizer (3,4) and Johnny Walker (6). Allen outshot Wichita 19-10 in the first period. 

 

- The onslaught continued in the second period with Gavin Gould scoring his eighth goal of the season at the 33 second mark and Liam Finlay scoring his fourth of the season to give Allen a 7-0 lead. Wichita scored three unanswered goals in the last half of the second period to close the gap to 7-3 to give the Thunder some hope. Allen took their 7-3 lead into the second intermission knowing four goal leads are nearly impossible to over come. Allen's road record with any lead after the second period is 11-0-1-1.

 

- Allen ended any thought of a Thunder comeback when Blake Murray gave Allen an 8-3 lead at the 8:45 mark of the third period. It was Murray's 16th goal of the season. Wichita scored a breakaway goal with 17 seconds remaining in the game to make the final score 8-4. 

 

- Here are a few of the stats that stood out from this game:

• The eight goals were the most scored this season.
  
• The five goals in the first period is the most first period goals scored in the ECHL this season.
• Goalie Marco Costantini won his sixth straight game.
• The line of MacArthur-Murray-Fizer combined for 11 points (5G, 6A), 15 shots and were +9.
• Allen scored the first goal of the game for the fifth straight time against Wichita, all wins.
• Allen improved its record in Wichita this season to 5-0.
• Allen had 13 penalty minutes, Wichita 34. Allen has taken fewer penalties in every game against Wichita this season. 
• Gavin Gould scored his eighth goal of the season. Four of his eight goals have come against Wichita, the team he played for last season.
• 12 of 17 skaters had points in the game and six had multiple points (Myllari, Fizer, MacArthur, Murray, Allen, McAuley). 
• Bennett MacArthur had five points (2G,3A) in the game, four points (2G, 2A) in the first period. 
• Allen snapped Wichita's six game point streak (5-0-0-1).
   

 

- Here are the game recaps from both teams with all of the goal by goal details:

• Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/03/offensive-explosion
  
• Wichita Thunder: https://wichitathunder.com/news/2024/03/thunder-point-streak-snapped-at-six 

 

- Here are the video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-wichita-thunder-march-2-2024  

 

CHAD COSTELLO COACH'S COMMENTS

"The way we came out tonight was very impressive. Everyone was skating and playing with confidence. It was a great road win by the boys."

"Our bus broke down on the way to Wichita and we had to wait for a replacement bus to pick us up. We didn't get in until 6:30 am. For players to not use that as an excuse and compete that hard speaks to our leadership and our team commitment right now."

"Every line was playing fast and we could have had a lot more goals."

"We had tons of pretty plays and goals. Everyone was on board and contributing."

"We need to continue to improve and play the right way if we want to achieve our goals going forward."

 

REMATCH PREVIEW

- It will be a short turnaround for both teams as they had to travel back to Allen after the game last night (365 miles). They will be back on the ice this afternoon for a 2:10 pm puck drop. I would expect some of the guys that did not play last night will play today. I haven't heard who will get the start in goal this afternoon but I assume it will be Chase Perry. You can't expect Marco Costantini to play three games in three days, especially with a 2:10 pm puck drop today.

 

- Allen needs more of the same this afternoon. The Americans speed overwhelmed and smothered Wichita in the first period last night. If they can bring that energy again today they will be in good shape. It won't be easy however, how many times have you seen a team score a bunch of goals against a team and then struggle to score in a rematch the next day. With both teams being very tired the team with more will rather than skill should prevail.

 

- Allen has been great in staying out of the penalty box recently. Last night Allen took four penalties and Wichita took six penalties. Allen scored a power play goal (1-3) but Wichita scored two (2-3). If you look at the seven head to head games against Wichita the Allen power play percentage is 17.2% and Wichita's is 41.2%. Two of Wichita's four goals last night were power play goals. Allen needs to win the special teams battle this afternoon. 

 

- Allen outshot Wichita last night, scored the first goal of the game, led after the first and second period and coasted to victory. The Americans have had a pattern this season of  having weak second periods. Last night Allen was outshot 20-7 and outscored 3-2 in the second period. If you combine the first and third periods Allen outshot Wichita 31-16 and outscored the Thunder 7-1. A key to the game this afternoon is the Americans playing a full 60 minutes of hockey.

 

- Here is the game preview from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/03/game-day-preview-americans-looking-for-a-weekend-sweep

 

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- The Mountain Division winners last night were Allen, Tulsa and Utah. The losers were Kansas City (OT), Idaho, Wichita and Rapid City. Here are the standings by points percentage. In parenthesis is how the team ranks in points percentage in the ECHL:

• .778 - Kansas City (1st)
  
• .700 - Idaho (2nd)
  
• .509 - Tulsa (16th)
  
• .490 - Allen (19th)
  
• .464 - Utah (23rd)
  
• .426 - Wichita (26th)
  
• .382 - Rapid City (27th)

 

- Liam Finlay has been back for two games and scored a goal in both. He has four goals in six games this season. He has now played in 60 career games for the Allen Americans and has 37 goals for a goals per game average of .616 per game. The only other player in Allen franchise history with a goals per game average above .60 is Hank Crone at .621. If the Americans can have these two players healthy the last month of the season and in the playoffs it will be a big lift for the team. 

 

- There are 10 games on the ECHL schedule today. The only Mountain Division games are Wichita at Allen and Kansas City at Tulsa. An Allen win and Tulsa loss would cut the points difference between the Americans and Oilers to three points. Allen has three games in hand over Tulsa. 

 

- DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about attendance. Allen is averaging 4,047 per game which is a 531 increase over the average last season of 3,516. 

 

What a night for ECHL hockey. Average ECHL attendance this season is 4,915 ranging from 8,772 (Jacksonville) to 2,009 (Iowa). Last night 14 ECHL games drew 108,196, an average of 7,721 per game. Stick taps to all of the sales and marketing staffs. Here is the attendance last night:

 

15,744: Tulsa

12,272: Jacksonville

9,373: Fort Wayne

9,248: Atlanta

8,011: Toledo

6,694: Norfolk

6,514: Reading

6,493: South Carolina

5,720: Worcester

5,380: Newfoundland

5,191: Wichita

5,167: Idaho*

4,743: Rapid City

 

*Idaho is at the bottom end of this list but has had 25 consecutive sellouts and sold out 27 of 28 home games this season.

 

A point of comparison. There were 12 games in the AHL last night and the average attendance was 6,283, which was 1,438 per game less than the ECHL average.