Allen Wins in Overtime, Game Recaps, Video Highlights, Coach's Comments, Today's Preview, Standings Tightening, Roster Reduction and More

 

It was another win for the Allen Americans last night as they defeated Utah 3-2 in overtime. Just like the win against Utah on Wednesday, the #1 star of the game was Brayden Watts who scored the game winning goal and the #2 star was goalie Dylan Wells who stopped 45 of 47 shots for a .957 save percentage. 

 

- Last night Watts factored in all three Allen goals. He scored the Americans first goal after Allen fell behind in the opening period. He assisted on Allen's second goal scored by Spencer Asuchak to give the Americans a 2-1 lead. He scored the game winner on the power play at the 6:31 mark of overtime. 

 

- With the win Allen improved its record to 4-5-1-0 and has now won four of the last five games and improved its point percentage from .100 on November 1 to .450 with a chance to get to .500 with a win against Utah tonight.

 

- Special teams played a big part in the overtime period. Allen took a penalty with one second remaining in regulation time which carried over to the overtime period. Allen killed off the 4-on-3 power play thanks to some great saves by Dylan Wells. A couple of minutes later Utah took a penalty and Allen capitalized with the Watts game winner with just 29 seconds remaining in the overtime period. 

 

- The Americans are still last in the league in average goals allowed per game (4.40), but in their last three wins Allen has allowed just five goals (1.67 per game). 

 

- Asuchak's goal last night was his third of the season, all coming in the last three games. He has nine points (3G, 6A) in the last five games. Watts scored his fifth and sixth goals last night. In the last five games he has nine points (5G, 4A).

 

- How big of a turn around has goalie Dylan Wells had. Here are his save percentages in the seven games he has played this season starting with opening night. Last night was his second 45 save win in the last week. He has two of the top four save games in the league this season.

• .784
• .793
• .909
• .957
• .963
• .957

 

- Last night was the tale of two periods. Allen outshot Utah 15 -8 in the first period and Utah turned the tables in second period outshooting the Americans 20-7. The second period has been a problem all season for Allen. The Americans have been outshot 160-80 in the second period and have been outscored 14-5. 

 

- Here are the game recaps from both teams and the video highlights:

• Allen Americans game recap: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/11/game-recap-americans-beat-utah-3-2-in-overtime
• Utah Grizzlies game recap: https://utahgrizzlies.com/news/2024/11/grizz-earn-standings-point-in-3-2-ot-loss-at-allen
• Video Highlights: https://echl.com/videos/utah-grizzlies-vs-allen-americans-nov-15-2024 
   

- Allen has a chance to do something tonight they haven't accomplished since 2021-22. Sweep a three games series at home. The same keys to the game apply as last night which was a bit of a mixed bag:

• Get off to a good start by scoring the first goal.
• Limit the neutral zone turnovers, if there isn't a play to be made, dump the puck.
• Win the 50-50 battles.
  
• Win the special teams battle and take advantage of Utah's penalty kill.
• Keep the shots close.
• Continue the excellent goaltending. 

COACH'S COMMENTS

I had a chance to catch up with coach B.J Adams after the game and ask him a few questions. Here is what he had to say:

Q: How big was your special teams play, especially in the overtime period?

A: I didn't like the way we killed the 5-on-3 when they scored. We weren't setup very well for that  goal structurally. But the kill in overtime was big and then those guys coming thorough on the power play was great.

Q: What was the difference in how the team was playing in the first and second period?

A: We were trying to do too much with the puck in the second period. We gave them the puck too often. Inside the blue line I think we are cheating the game a little bit. We have to be better top of the circle to top of the circle. We took a long shift when we scored, and then the next shift was a long one, there was some icings involved and we couldn't change and they built up some momentum. Tired guys make tired mistakes, so that compounds the problem. That is where you have to simplify the game and know where you are in the game, where to go with pucks and be able to get fresh bodies on the ice. We were fortunate to get out of the period with the score tied.

Q: It seemed like you had a ton of grade A chances but couldn't finish?

A: I would like a few more of those chances. I guess I am being picky as the coach. We have to get more of those second chance pucks in front of the net. We are not getting enough of those. On the flip side we gave up too many second chances to them.

Q: Your thoughts on Dylan Wells winning again while saving 45 of 47 shots?

A: Wells is making the saves he needs to make, but also making saves that are high percentage shots for them that you don't expect to make and that really helps. We just need for him to the make the saves he should make and we we will be fine. We have to clean up some stuff in front of him on rebounds, so the shot totals don't get so high.      

OTHER COMMENTS

- The Mountain Division could be described as high octane offense with weak defense based on the results thus far this season. Check out these stats:

Four of the top six ECHL teams in average goals per game are in the Mountain Division. Kansas City and Tulsa are tied for #1 (3.91), Idaho is #4 (3.75) and Utah is #6 (3.44).

The bottom three ECHL teams in average goals allowed are in the Mountain Division. Allen is #29 (4.40), Utah is #28 (3.89) and Rapid City is #27 (3.50)

Five of the bottom six teams in average shots allowed per game are in the Mountain Division. Allen is #29 (41.20), Rapid City is #28 (35.50), Idaho is #27 (35.33), Wichita is #26 (34.67) and Utah is #24 (33.44).

 

- Depth scoring continues to be an issue for the Americans. The top line scored all three goals again last night. The four players that have played on the top line this season (Watts, Asuchak, Crnkovic, Brodzinski) have scored 18 of Allen's 23 goals (78%). Other than the first line goal scoring, five players have one goal and the rest of the team doesn't have a goal.  

- The Mountain Division is quickly becoming the tightest division in the league. There are five teams in the ECHL with point percentages above .700. The Mountain Division is the only division without one. The Mountain Division has had some unexpected results in the last week.  

• Idaho has lost three of its last four games including two at home to Rapid City. 
• Kansas City has lost two of its last three and has a home record of 1-2-0-1. 
• Allen has won three of its last four games. 
• Tulsa has won four of its last five games. 
• Rapid City has won three straight after losing nine straight to start the season.
• First year Tahoe has already beaten Idaho twice, Tulsa, Utah and Jacksonville. 
  

 

 

- It all makes for standings that look a lot different than last season when Idaho and Kansas City had from 30 to 51 more points than the rest of the teams. Here are the current standings by point percentage because games played varies from nine to 12. As a comparison the team's point percentage from a week ago is in parenthesis so you can see how the standings have tightened in the last week. A week ago point percentages varied from .813 to .167. Today it varies from .682 to .375.

• .682 - Tulsa (.643)
  
• .682 - Kansas City (.813)
  
• .611 - Tahoe (.700)
  
• .542 - Idaho (.635)
  
• .542 - Wichita (.667)
  
• .500 - Utah (.600)
  
• .450 - Allen (.357)
  
• .375 - Rapid City (.167)

 

 

- It is another busy night in the ECHL with 13 games on tap. Seven of eight Mountain Division teams will be in action (Kansas City is idle). Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews: https://echl.com/news/2024/11/echl-today-nov-16 

    

 

DID YOU KNOW: ECHL active rosters must be reduced from a maximum of 21 players to 20 players by tomorrow afternoon (3:00 pm ET). In addition to the 20 players on the active roster, teams can carry:

 

- 2 players on reserve

- 1 player on 3-day injured reserve

- unlimited number of players on 14-day injured reserve

 

Coach Adams will have a decision to make after the game tonight. Will he trade or release a player to get the active roster down to 20 players. So much depends on if Allen gets out of the game tonight without any injuries and what is the status of Mark Duarte, who was injured in the game last night. It is possible Adams could buy some time because of players on injured reserve, but he will eventually have to reduce the size of the roster, so maybe he will decide to do that before the deadline tomorrow.