Allen Loses 5-4 in Overtime, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Coach's Comments, Points Earned Stat, Scoring First Stats and More

 

The Utah Grizzlies flipped the script on Allen last night with an overtime power play goal to beat the Americans 5-4. Allen won in overtime Friday night on a power play. While it was disappointing to not get the extra point last night after the Americans came back to tie the score 4-4 in the third period, the series against Utah was very successful with Allen capturing five of a possible six points. The Americans improved their record to 4-5-2-0 with a points percentage of .455. Allen is one win away from being tied for fifth place in the division in points percentage (.500) and two wins away from a playoff spot (.550). 

- The Americans had to come from behind several times last night. Utah scored first just 58 seconds after the opening puck drop. Utah captain, Gianni Fairbrother scored the goal. He leads all ECHL defensemen in goals with five in just 10 games. All five of his goals have been against the Americans.

 

- Despite giving up the first goal Allen fought back in the first period taking a 2-1 lead on goals by Brayden Guy, his first of the season, and Brayden Watts, his team leading seventh goal of the season. The second period has been Allen's poorest most of the season and it proved to be the case again last night. The Americans started the period with a 2-1 lead and finished the period trailing 4-3. Utah won the second period 3-1. Allen has now been outscored in the second period 17-6 and outshot 173-92. Utah tied the score 2-2 just 84 seconds into the period and took a 3-2 lead a few minutes later. Allen managed to comeback and tie the score 3-3 on Brayden Guy's second goal of the game but late in the period Utah scored again to take 4-3 lead into the second intermission. 

 

- Allen scored a power play goal on its only power play opportunity of the game at the 8:37 mark of the third period. Easton Brodzinski scored his sixth goal of the season to tie the score 4-4. It was the only goal of the third period. 

 

- Utah had the advantage in overtime outshooting the Americans 4-2 in the first four minutes and then Allen took a high sticking penalty. It was all Utah once the 4-on-3 power play started. Allen was never able to clear the puck as Anson Thornton made a couple of big saves and several shots were blocked. The Grizzlies finally scored the game winner at the 5:38 mark of overtime.

 

- Here is the game recap from the Utah Grizzlies: https://utahgrizzlies.com/news/2024/11/daschke-delivers-ot-game-winner   

 

- The Americans finally got the depth scoring that has been talked about so much lately. The first line had a goal (Watts), the second line had a goal from Bordzinski though it was on the first power play unit, and the third line had two goals from Brayden Guy. In one game, Guy went from a tie for last on the team in goals to fifth on the team in goals.

 

- Here are the video highlights with all of the goals: https://echl.com/videos/utah-grizzlies-vs-allen-americans-nov-16-2024

 

COACH'S COMMENTS

- Coach B.J. Adams met with season ticket holders after the game. This is what he had to say:

"Obviously it is disappointing to go to overtime tonight and lose on a power play. Selfishly, we wanted six points in this series."

"Any time you get five of six points it is a good week no matter how you look at it. I thought we took some strides as a team again this week."

"Our mentality all year, with the players on this team, is to not give up and keep playing no matter the situation. We faced some adversity early in the year. Hopefully that has given us a little more sandpaper as a group and what we have gone through builds into our character and team identity.

"I am not sure yet if I will make a roster move tomorrow as the active roster decreases fro 21 to 20 players. There are always some irons in the fire and we will see what happens. I don't have anything concrete either way."

"I don't know when I will name a captain. I am still getting to know the guys. It is important to have the right person when you hand out the "C". We have a lot of guys that are leaders in the locker room, whether the have a "C", an "A" or no letter. It is not a massive concern for me and I don't think it is for the players either."

"I am not sure when you might see Costantini in a game. I will give Marco all of the credit in the world. He is in a tough position and he has handled it extremely well. We have had a few conversations and he has been nothing but great. It is what it is when you have an affiliation and get sent two goalies."

"I have been waiting for depth scoring and it was nice for Guy to get two goals tonight. Our guys have proven in the past they can score goals. When players join new teams they want to perform well and score goals. You worry if they don't get chances, but they are getting chances. It is coming for a lot of those guys." 

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- Here are the points earned by each Mountain Division team in its last six games (maximum is 12 points):

• 10 points - Tulsa
  
• 9 points - Allen
• 9 points - Rapid City
• 7 points - Tahoe 
• 7 points - Utah
  
• 7 points - Kansas City
  
• 5 points - Idaho
• 3 points - Wichita

- Florida beat Greenville 8-0 last night and scored all eight goal in the first two periods. The Everblades at one point in the game scored three straight shorthanded goals. The all-time record for shorthanded goals in one game is four which has been accomplished six times, most recently by Utah vs Rapid City (May 4, 2021). The last time before last night a team had three shorthanded goals in a game was in Allen on October 29, 2023. The Americans were shutout by the Atlanta Gladiator 6-0, who scored all six of their goals on special teams, Atlanta had three shorthanded goals and three power play goals.

 

- The Mountain Division has the most penalized team in the league and the least penalized team in the league. Kansas City is #1 with 215 penalty minutes, an average of 19.55 per game. Utah is #29 with 70 penalty minutes, an average of 7.00 per game. Allen is in the middle of the pack with 138 penalty minutes, an average of 12.55 per game.

 

- Five ECHL teams have a points percentage above .725. Here is the list:

• .818 - Florida*
• .813 - Adirondack*
• .773 - South Carolina
• .731 - Toledo*
• .727 - Fort Wayne

*Final four teams in the 2024 Kelly Cup playoffs.
 

  

- There are eight games on the ECHL schedule today, most start around 3.00 pm local time with the latest having a 5:00 pm puck drop. The only Mountain Division game is Wichita at Kansas City. Home ice hasn't been an advantage for Kansas City. The Mavericks record at home is 1-2-0-1 while their road record is 6-3-0-1. Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews: https://echl.com/news/2024/11/echl-today-nov-17

 

DID YOU KNOW: Here is the ECHL Stats post from today about scoring first stats. FYI, Allen has scored first in five of 11 game (45%) and has a record when scoring first of 3-1-1-0 (.700)

ECHL teams that score 1st win 75% of the time (by points). Here is how many games some teams have scored 1st of total games played with their record in those games. Four teams have not lost when scoring first but the number of times they have scored first varies:

South Carolina p: 8 of 11 (7-0-1-0)

Florida: 6 of 11 (6-0-0-0)

Tulsa: 6 of 12 (6-0-0-0)

Savannah: 5 of 12 (5-0-0-0)

Rapid City: 2 of 13 (2-0-0-0)

Norfolk: 8 of 13 (2-3-3-0)

Cincinnati: 3 of 11: (0-2-1-0)

 

- Team with the highest percentage of scoring first:

82% - Iowa, 9 of 11 games (7-2-0-0).

 

- Team with the lowest percentage of scoring first:

15% - Rapid City, 2 of 13 games (2-0-0-0).

 

- South Carolina has earned the most points when scoring first (15 points) and Cincinnati has earned the fewest (1).