Goaltending and Power Play Lead to Victory, Game Recaps, Video Highlights, Coach's Comments, Standings Tighten, All-Time PP Percentages and More

 

 Anytime you win on the road in the ECHL it is a success. Despite being outplayed the Americans beat Rapid City last night 4-3 in overtime to get back to .500. Goaltending and the power play helped Allen overcome Rapid City's largest shot total of the season. The Americans were outshot 44-21 in regulation including 36-13 in the final two periods. 

 

- Rapid City scored the first goal of the game at the 6:27 mark of the first period. It was only the third time in 17 games this season the Rush scored the first goal. The first two times they went on to win the game. Allen tied the score 1-1 at the 15:59 mark when James Hardie finally got the monkey of his back, scoring his first goal of the season against his former team. While the goal was officially an even strength goal, Hardie scored four seconds after a power play expired, before the Rush player could get back in the play. 

 

- The first period ended with the score tied 1-1. Allen's power play continued to shine in the second period. A penalty at the end of the first period put the Americans on the power play to start the second period. It took just 27 seconds for Spencer Asuchak to score his fifth goal of the season. Rapid City took another penalty a few minutes later and Allen made them pay again. Liam Gorman scored two seconds before the penalty expired to give Allen a 3-1 lead. Despite the Americans scoring the only two goals of the second period, Rapid City out shot Allen 20-8, but goalie Anson Thornton stopped them all.

 

- Allen's 3-1 lead after the second period gave them great odds of winning the game. The Americans had not lost all season when leading after the second period (4-0-0-0) and Rapid City had not won when trailing after the second period (0-8-1-0). It looked like the odds may not hold true as Rapid City overwhelmed Allen early in the third period. By the 7:19 mark the Rush had tied the score while outshooting Allen 10-1. The Americans steadied themselves in the last half of the third period. For the final 12 minutes of the game the shots were even, 4-4. With just one second remaining in the game Rapid City took a minor penalty for playing with a broken stick which carried over to overtime.

 

- It didn't tale long for the Allen power play to burn the Rush for the third time. Spencer Asuchak parked himself in his office, right at the net, and tipped home a shot/pass from Easton Brodzinski. If you watch the video on this goal you can see both the defenseman and goalie thought Brodzinski was shooting, but he put the puck right on Asuchak's stick for the tip in. 

 

- Goal scorers for Allen were Spencer Asuchak (5,6), James Hardie (1) and Liam Gorman (2). Here are the video highlights that includes a lot more than just the goals. Anson Thornton had many grade A saves stopping 41 of 44 shots for a .932 save percentage. https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-rapid-city-rush-nov-29-2024

 

 - Allen's power play has been the difference maker the last two weeks. The Americans have scored at least one power play goal in six of the last seven games and the three last night is the most all season. In the last seven games the Allen power play is 9-21 (42.9%). The power play has been steadily going up the ECHL chart. It is now ranked #3 in the league at 26.1%. 

- Here are the game recaps from both teams with even more details:

• Allen Americans game recap: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/11/americans-beat-rapid-city-in-ot
• Rapid City Rush game recap: https://rapidcityrush.com/news/2024/11/game-recap-allen-defeats-rush-in-overtime-despite-season-high-44-shots

 

- The rubber match of this series takes place tonight and the Americans have a chance to come home with four points (.667), three points (.500) or two points (.333). To maintain their place in the standings and keep moving forward the Americans will need to play better tonight. You can't expect the goalie to stop 41 of 44 shots and to score three power play goals again tonight. 

 

- Allen has gone to overtime in four of its last six games, winning two and losing two. Allen's record over the last 10 games is 6-2-2-0. Only Tulsa (7-3-0-0) has a better record in the Mountain Division over the last 10 games. 

 

COACH'S COMMENTS

I swapped messages with assistant coach Brett Ferguson after the game to ask him a few questions. This is what he had to say:

"Special teams and Anson won us the game tonight, no doubt about it."

"We started absorbing the game instead of keeping our foot on the gas with our forecheck that led to our early success. Instead we started to play passive."

"Our forwards weren't getting in on the forecheck which allowed Rapid City to come out to easy."

"Our defensemen weren't able to set proper gaps to handle their speed coming out of their zone. It becomes a domino effect that puts us back on our heels."

"We dug in the last 10 minutes of the game and still managed to get one point and then the bonus point in overtime."

"We have definitely noticed more guys having scoring chances than just the usual suspects. Hardie's lack of scoring thus far wasn't by lack of effort. I think he hit five posts in the last three games. It was just a matter of time and he finally scored."

"We won't know until the morning until we check with the trainer, but I believe everyone will be available tomorrow night."  

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- The Mountain Division results last night saw Allen, Idaho and Kansas City winning. Tulsa, Tahoe, Utah and Rapid City lost. Standings continue to tighten. Here are the standings by point percentage. Penalty minutes are in parenthesis:

• .676 - Tulsa (203)
• .625 - Kansas City (286)
  
• .600 - Tahoe (163)
• .559 - Idaho (231)
• .500 - Allen (176)
  
• .500 - Wichita (149)
• .412 - Rapid City (180)
• .375 - Utah (124)

- The point percentage difference between first and last place in the Mountain Division is less than the other divisions. Here is the list. The top and bottom point percentage is in parenthesis:

• .450 - Central (.700 Fort Wayne to .250 Cincinnati)
• .361 - North (.767 Wheeling to .406 Maine)
• .350 - South (.794 Florida to .444 Atlanta)
• .301 - Mountain (.676 Tulsa to .375 Utah)

 

- Stats worth noting:

• Tulsa is the only remaining team that has not lost when scoring first (9-0-0-0).
• South Carolina has not allowed a power play goal on the road. They have killed 24 straight.
• Adirondack has scored five shorthanded goals in 15 games.
• Orlando has taken 102 minor penalties, Utah has taken 47.
• Indy is #2 in the league in average goals allowed (1.93), but #29 in goals scored (1.79). 

 

- How good is Allen's power play this season? At the current pace it would break the all-time record since Allen joined the ECHL. It will be difficult to maintain this pace all season, but the Americans are off to a great start:

• 26.1% - 2024-25 (thru 15 games)
  
• 20.2% - 2023-24
  
• 23.9% - 2022-23
• 18.5% - 2021-21
• 20.5% - 2020-21
• 18.5% - 2019-20
• 16.7% - 2018-19
• 17.1% - 2017-18
• 24.4% - 2016-17
• 21.1% - 2015-16*
• 21.9% - 2014-15*

 *won Kelly Cup

  

- It is another big night in the ECHL with 13 games on the schedule. Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews: https://echl.com/news/2024/11/echl-today-nov-30

 

 

DID  YOU KNOW: Great offense and great defense! Just four ECHL teams have a goal differential of 1.00 or more (average goals scored minus average goals allowed):

 

South Carolina: 3.94 vs 2.06 (1.88 differential)

Florida: 3.41 vs 1.76 (1.65 differential)

Wheeling: 3.53 vs 2.47 (1.06 differential)

Tulsa: 3.59 vs 2.59 (1.00 differential)

 

 

Here is how the teams rank in average goals scored and average goals allowed:

 

South Carolina: #1 and #3

Florida: #9 and #1

Wheeling: #5 and #6

Tulsa: #4 and #7