A Wednesday morning crowd of 2905 made up mostly of children watched the Allen Americans battle but come up short in a 3-2 loss to the Kansas City Mavericks. To be honest the game was not as close as the score. Goalie Mark Sinclair was called on to make 37 saves, many of them high quality chances to keep Allen in the game. The Americans fought back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits but in the end the Mavericks prevailed scoring the game winner and only goal of the third period at the 15:33 mark.
- The Americans got off to a good start in the game and had a shot advantage of 7-2 in the first five minutes but could not score. However in the last 55 minutes of the game Allen managed just 15 shots. Kansas City scored the first goal of the game at the 15:10 mark of the opening period. That was not a good sign given the Mavericks record when scoring first is the best in the league at 31-3-3-1 (.868). Less than three minutes later (18:07) Ty Farmer scored his fourth goal of the season and third in the last three games to tie the score 1-1 and give Allen the momentum going into the first intermission.
- Kansas City took a 2-1 lead early in the second period (4:25) but once again Allen responded on Ty Fournier's seventh goal of the season. Despite being out shot 17-8 in the period the Americans went into the second intermission tied 2-2.
- Even though the score was tied after the second period the stats favored the Mavericks. Allen's record this season when tied after the second period is 2-5-0-0 compared to Kansas City's record of 8-0-2-1. Sure enough the Mavericks scored with less than five minutes remaining in the game. You may have noticed the referee reviewed the goal before calling it a good goal. The review wasn't for goalie interference but for the puck going in the goal off the player's hand. Turns out it was off an Allen's player hand. Shortly after Kansas City took the 3-2 lead the Americans had a power play which resulted in no shots on goal. Allen pulled Sinclair a couple of times in the last 75 seconds of the game but got no shots on goal. The better team won but it was disappointing that Allen got so close to getting the game to overtime and earning at least one point.
- Here are the video highlights. Notice how most of the goals were tips and rebounds close to the net. https://echl.com/videos/kansas-city-mavericks-vs-allen-americans-march-20-2024
- How did the Americans do with the three keys to the game?
- Get off to a good start - Allen gave up the first goal for the seventh time in 13 games against Kansas City. The Americans record in those seven games is 0-7-0-0
- Reduce the shots on goal differential - Allen was out shot 40-22 including 38-15 in the last 55 minutes of the game. The Americans are last in the ECHL, ranked #28 allowing an average of 39.88 shots per game.
- Win the special teams battle - This was a tossup since both teams were 0-2 on the power play. Allen's power play was top three earlier in the season. It is still respectful, ranked #10 at the 20.8%. The penalty kill as also declined and is ranked #21 at 77.6%.
- With the loss yesterday Allen's home record against Kansas City falls to 0-6-0-0. The Americans have now lost six of the last seven games and in the six losses the offense as sputtered. Goals scored in the six losses was 2, 1, 2, 0, 4, 1. In the six losses the Americans have had just 12 power play opportunities and scored two goals for a 16.7% power play percentage.
- You know the Americans are depleted with injuries to so many forwards when you see regular 5-on-5 shifts in a game, like yesterday, with four defensemen and one forward on the ice. The Americans will get some help on Friday night as recently acquired forward James Hardie will be in the lineup and likely Grant Hebert will return from injury.
OTHER COMMENTS
- Today is the ECHL trade deadline (2:00 pm CDT). After talking to coach Costello yesterday I don't expect him to make any trades today but it is impossible to predict what might happen on trade deadline day.
- Kansas City's win yesterday was its 25th road win of the season. With a win on Friday the Mavericks will tie the all time record of 26. This record has been accomplished five times in the 36 year history of the league and the Mavericks will blow it away. Kansas City's road record is 25-2-2-1 and the Mavericks still have six more road games left (2 at Allen, 3 at Utah and 1 at Iowa).
- Have you had thoughts of 2015-16 when Kansas City (then called Missouri) was the best team in the ECHL and lost to the Americans in the second round of the playoffs on the way to the Kelly Cup. I have had those thought as well. I decided to take look this morning because if the Americans do make the playoffs it is highly like their first round opponent will be Kansas City. I found some big differences between 2015-26 and 2023-24:
- In 2015-16 Kansas City was #1 with a .757 points percentage (109 points), but Allen was #5 with a .618 points parentage (89 points).
- In 2023-24 Kansas City is #1 with a .787 points percentage (96 points), Allen is ranked #23 with a .458 points percentage (55 points).
- In 2015-16 Allen's regular season record against Kansas City was 5-6-0-0.
- In 2023-24 Allen's record against Kansas City is 3-9-0-1 (two more games to play).
In the 2016 playoffs Allen beat Idaho 4-3 in the first round after trailing 3-2 and winning two games at home. Game seven was an overtime thriller with Tristan King scoring the series winner at 3:28 of overtime. Kansas City beat Quad City 4-0 in the first round. Everyone expected Kansas City to roll over Allen but the Americans won the series 4-2. It wasn't even close as Allen won game six 5-1 with a who's who of players scoring the goals, Chad Costello, Greger Hanson (2), Casey Pierro-Zabotel and Dyson Stevenson. Riley Gill stopped 32 of 33 shots for a .970 save percentage. After beating Kansas City the Americans blew through the field beating Fort Wayne 4-1 in the Conference Finals and Wheeling 4-2 in the Kelly Cup Finals for back to back Kelly Cups and four straight championships.
As inviting as to think of a repeat of 2015-16 when Allen beat the #1 team in the playoffs in Kansas City on the way to the Kelly Cup. The only similarity this season is Allen could likely playing Kansas City if the Americans make the playoffs. The bottom line is Kansas City is a better team than 2015-16 and Allen is a much worse team than in 2015-16. This may be another crow eating prediction but if Allen does make the playoffs and plays Kansas City, the Americans will be eliminated in the first round. I'd love to make another batch of crow chili but I am afraid it will be yummy pheasant chili this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment