Allen Beats Tulsa 4-1, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Coach's Comments, Nielsen Traded, Depth Scoring, Division Standings and More

 

From a 0-4-1-0 (.100) record at the beginning of the month the Allen Americans reached .500 last night and they did it in style beating the division's top team, Tulsa, on the road, by a score of 4-1. The Americans record over their last seven games is 5-1-1-0 and Allen's overall record is now 5-5-2-0. 

 

- With the exception of shots (Allen was outshot 46-23), the Americans hit every key to the game you could imagine:

• Easton Brodzinski score the first goal of the game just 98 seconds after the opening puck drop. Allen is now 4-1-1-0 when scoring first.
• Allen built a 2-0 lead with 57 second remaining in the first period. A power play goal by Kyle Crnkovic setup by a faceoff win by Spencer Asuchak and perfect pass from Brayden Watts. 
• Allen won the special teams battle by staying out of the penalty box, taking just two minor penalties and killing them both. The Americans power play was 1-3, scoring a power play goal for the fourth straight games. Allen's power play percentage is now ranked #9 in the league at 20.6%.
• Allen led 2-0 at the end of the first period and improved its record to 3-0-2-0 with a first period lead. Tulsa's record when trailing after the first period dropped to 0-4-0-0.
• There was no scoring in the second period which was a big win for Allen. The Americans have been outscored 17-6 in the second period and Tulsa has outscored its opponents 22-12 in the second period.
• Allen took a 2-0 lead into the second intermission which was close to a lock. The Americans record with a second period lead is now 4-0-0-0 and Tulsa's record when trailing after the second period is a perfect 0-4-0-0. 
• Allen's goalie play was outstanding as Anson Thornton earned his first win of the season by stopping 45 of 46 shots for a .978 save percentage.
   

- Things got tight in the third period when Tulsa scored to cut the score to 2-1. At that point the game could have gone either way. Luckily it went Allen's way as rookie defenseman Quinn Warmuth, playing in just his fourth pro game, scored an unassisted goal to give Allen back its two goal lead, 3-1. I had a chance to talk to Warmuth during training camp. What impressed me about him is he came to training camp as a tryout player with no backup plan. Making the team as a tryout player is a long shot so most tryout players have a deal in the SPHL before they arrive. Quinn was all in on making the Americans. This is what he said to me at the time,  "Right now my complete focus is on making this roster and doing everything I can by showing up everyday looking to win the day. Right now that is were my focus is at. I am looking to do everything I can that is going to get me in the lineup and keep me on the roster." It is nice to see a young man with a positive attitude like that have success.   

- Easton Brodzinski finished the scoring with an empty net goal with 10 seconds remaining in the game. It was his second goal of the night and team leading ninth goal of the season. His nine goals is tied for #4 in the league. Three players have 10 goals. 

- Even though the Americans were in control of the game from beginning to end the shot differential of -23 won't typically lead to a win. I say that but the facts prove me wrong. Six times in the ECHL this season a team has had 45 or more saves in a game. Allen owns three of the six and the odd stat is Allen won all three games. With that said, you don't want to make a living having to make 45 saves to win a game. The big question is who gets the start in goal tonight. Coach Adams I am sure is assessing who will get the start tonight and has said he won't play Costantini until he is ready. Marco has had only one practice this week and hasn't played a game for Allen in seven months. He may need more time having just returned to the team. I will post the lineup later today on social media.

 

- If you want to see Tulsa's take on the game here is the Oilers game recap: https://tulsaoilers.com/news/2024/11/oilers-fall-despite-doubling-americans-in-shots

 

- Here are the video highlights with all of the goals: https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-tulsa-oilers-nov-21-2024

 

- The Americans did a lot right last night, but will have a challenge on their hands to win again tonight. The Americans had to travel back to Allen after the game last night on a passenger bus while Tulsa slept in their own beds and will travel to Allen this afternoon. Tulsa will be fired up to get a win tonight as they have not lost back to back games in regulation all season. Having doubled up Allen in shots, I am sure they believe they can win tonight. Allen needs to get off to a good start, avoid playing from behind, win the special teams battle and get another good goalie performance.  

COACH'S COMMENTS

- I had a chance to swap messages with coach Adams after the game last night and ask a few questions. Here is what he had to say:

"I am not sure the shot total was accurate, but as I have said before I am more concerned in where we give up the shots than the total."

"The power play has been really good recently and it has helped us win games. Hats off to the power play guys and coach Ferguson (he runs the PP) who have done a really good job."

"We want to limit the goals against and giving up just one tonight was great. Thornton played really well and in the third period I thought our players were very committed to managing the puck and not allowing them easy ice. We had a really good string of shifts after they scored. We didn't allow them to build momentum and it actually swung or way."

"I would like for us to build off our third period and continue to play that way tomorrow night. We were able to get everyone involved and had great shift times."

 

 

  OTHER COMMENTS

- The big news yesterday was Allen trading defenseman Andrew Nielsen to Orlando for forward Brian Chambers. Orlando then flipped Nielsen to Worcester. It was a little surprising to me the Americans would trade one of their two veterans on a team with so many rookies (11). Nielsen has more AHL games played (258) than the rest of the roster combined (96) by almost triple. On the other hand he had not scored a goal and had the worst plus/minus on the team at -14. The trade does create a surplus of forwards on the roster. There are now 16 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies on the roster. I would have to guess there are more roster moves coming.

- While Allen has gotten a little more depth scoring recently the point totalsd tell a story that continues to show scoring is concentrated with four players. Watts (16 points), Crnkovic (13 points), Asuchak (12 points) and Brodzinski (11 points) account for almost 70%  of Allen's points. The rest of the current roster has one player with three points, six with two points, four with one point and the rest with no points. Despite Allen's recent success its is hard to see the team winning consistently with all the scoring concentrated in four players. Even in 2022-23 when Allen had four players dominate the scoring; Crone (105 points), Combs (95 points), Hargrove (85 points) and Finlay (70 points), they only accounted for 50% of the total points. 

- The ECHL seems to be tightening more everyday. The Mountain Division now has the lowest number #1 team of any division (.654). It is the only division without a .700 team. The Mountain Division has the highest point percentage of any last place team (.423). The other three division's last place teams are at .208, .357 and .385. Here are the Mountain Division standings by points percentage. Listing by points doesn't work because Tahoe has played 11 games while Wichita has played 16 games. The team's ECHL point percentage rank is in parenthesis:

• .654 - Tulsa (tied for #7)
  
• .654 - Kansas City (tied for #7)
• .636 - Tahoe (tied for #11)
  
• .531 - Wichita (16th)
  
• .500 - Allen (tied for #17)
  
• .500 - Idaho (tied for #17)
  
• .458 - Utah (tied for #20)
  
• .423 - Rapid City (#23)

- There are 10 games on the ECHL schedule tonight with all eight Mountain Division teams in action. In addition to Tulsa at Allen, Utah is at Wichita, Idaho at Rapid City and Kansas City is at Tahoe. Chance for more tightening of the standings for sure. Here is the ECHL Today with previews of all 10 games plus a list of all-time assist leaders. Defenseman Matt Register is moving up the list: https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-tulsa-oilers-nov-21-2024

 

 DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is very interesting. FYI, Allen is at .500 today and after the same 12 games last season had a points percentage of .250.

What a difference a year makes. About a year ago at this point in the season five teams had a point percentages above .800. This season there are none. This season only five teams have a points percentage above .700.

2023-24

.900 - Trois Rivières

.889 - Atlanta

.846 - Kansas City

.818 - Idaho

.818 - Greenville

 

2024-25

.792 - South Carolina

.769 - Florida

.750 - Fort Wayne

.731 - Toledo

.708 - Wheeling