How important is this weekend for the Allen Americans? The team arrived yesterday in Kalamazoo for what has become commonplace recently, three games in three days. The Americans play the Wings tonight and tomorrow night with an early game on Sunday (3:00 pm). Allen arrives in Kalamazoo in sixth place in the very tight Mountain Division by points and in fourth place by points percentage. Every weekend at this point in the season is critical, but even more so when you consider Allen plays Kansas City three times next week at home where the Americans are 0-5 against the Mavericks.
- Allen and Kalamazoo are similarly situated in its respective division. Both are currently outside a playoff position by points, but in fourth place and in the playoffs by points percentage. In the Mountain Division three of the teams fighting for playoff spots (Allen, Utah, Wichita) are separated by just one point. In the Central Division second place and fifth place is separated by just four points.
- If you compare the strength of the two divisions in the Western Conference the Mountain Division has the two best teams in Kansas City and Idaho, but overall the Central Division is stronger. While the Mountain Division has the only two teams with a points percentage above .700 the Central Division has five teams above .550 compared to just two in the Mountain.
- Since Allen joined the ECHL in 2014-15 the Americans have played Kalamazoo just four times, two at home and two away. Two of the four games went to overtime and the home team won all four games. I am sure Allen coaches Chad Costello and Aaron Gens will remember the first time the Americans played in Kalamazoo. It was January 25, 2015. Chad had a goal and two assists in the game and Gens had two assists to go along with 26 of Allen's 34 penalty minutes. All of his penalties came within 2:27 in the second period. Aaron was called for two separate cross checking penalties, an unsportsmanlike penalty for disputing decision, 10 minute misconduct penalty and game misconduct for abuse of officials. Allen had a 3-0 lead late in the second period, gave up a shorthanded goal and two more in the third period including the game tying goal with 26 seconds remaining in the game. Kalamazoo won the game in overtime 4-3.
- Here is a comparison between Allen and Kalamazoo:
- Allen has 53 points, Kalamazoo has 63 points.
- Allen's road record is 13-12-2-1, Kalamazoo's home record id 17-11-2-0.
- Allen has lost three straight games and is 5-5-0-0 in last 10 games.
- Kalamazoo won their last game and is 6-4-0-0 in last 10 games.
- Allen scores more goals 3.4 vs 2.9.
- Allen allows more goals 4.0 vs 2.8.
- Allen takes more shots 30.3 vs 28.1.
- Allen allows more shots 39.8 vs 31.8.
- Allen has the better power play, 20.4% vs 18.1%.
- Kalamazoo has the better penalty kill, 83.5% vs 77.4%
- As always a good start will be critical to Allen's success in this series. The Americans record when scoring first is 19-6-1-1 (.741) and when giving up the first goal Allen's record is 6-22-1-0 (.224). Kalamazoo's record when scoring first is 19-5-1-0 (.780). When leading after the first period Allen's record is 13-1-1-1 (.875) and Kalamazoo's record is 17-6-0-0 (.739).
- Special teams as always will be a key factor in this series. Allen's road power play percentage is 20.6% (21-102) and its road penalty kill persentage is 83..8% (18-111). Kalamazoo's home power play percentage is 20.2% (19-94) and its home penalty kill percentage is 80.0% (20-100). If you look at penalty minutes Allen averages 18.20 minutes per game and Kalamazoo averages 13.30 minutes per game. Here is a breakdown by type of penalties. Allen leads in every category which has led to Allen giving up 41 power play goals to just 31 by Kalamazoo. Bottom line is the Americans need more discipline it taking penalties to be successful this weekend.
- Minor penalties: Allen - 287, Kalamazoo - 255
- Major 5 minute penalties: Allen - 21, Kalamazoo - 15
- Misconduct 10 minute penalties: Allen - 23, Kalamazoo - 11
- Game misconduct penalties: Allen - 11, Kalamazoo - 4
- The two big roster changes for the weekend include:
- Goalie Mark Sinclair has returned to the Americans after spending a couple of weeks in Belleville, I would assume Sinclair will get the start in goal tonight.
- Forward Grant Hebert is not with the team after suffering a lower body injury in the Tulsa game on Sunday.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Allen has a chance to gain some ground this weekend if the Americans play well. Here is the schedule for the four Mountain Division teams vying for two playoff spots:
- Allen - at Kalamazoo Friday, Saturday, Sunday
- Tulsa - at Indy Friday, Saturday
- Utah - Norfolk at home Saturday, Sunday, Monday
- Wichita - does not play (next game is March 22)
- I posted this on my ECHL stats page earlier this week. It is the number of rookies on each ECHL team. In a way these numbers have a connection to how many NHL/AHL contracted players are assigned to ECHL teams because many of them are rookies:
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