Allen Loses 4-1, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Coach's Comments, Allen vs Wichita Have Changed, Players Used By Each ECHL Team and More

 

The Allen Americans lost their seventh straight game last night, losing 4-1 to the Wichita Thunder. The Americans got off to a good start scoring the first goal of the game at the 4:03 mark of the first period. Scoring first is normally a huge advantage, but no so much for the Americans. Allen's record when scoring first is one of the worst in the league. The Americans have scored first in 12 of their 23 games (52%) but have lost eight of the twelve. Allen has scored first in all four games against Wichita this season, but lost three of the four. 

 

- Newly acquired forward Colin Jacobs arrived in Allen yesterday after a long day just trying to get to DFW with the typical flight problems, but was an immediate factor in the game. He scored Allen's only goal and drew a penalty all in the first five minutes of the game. In addition to centering the third line, Jacobs played on the power play and penalty kill. 

 

- After Allen's early goal all the scoring came from Wichita. Allen had plenty of opportunities to score and the shots were close (31-28), but the Americans could not find the back of the net. Wichita tied the score 1-1 at the 14:53 mark of the first period, scored the only two goals of the second period to take a 3-1 lead into the second intermission. It was very bleak at that point when you consider Wichita is undefeated when leading after the second period (10-0-0-0) and Allen hasn't won a game all season when trailing after the second period (0-9-2-0).

 

- Former Allen defenseman Nolan Kneen scored the only goal of the third period, into an empty net, just 37 seconds after the Americans pulled goalie Anson Thornton with 3:28 left in the game to make the final score 4-1.

 

- Allen's power play woes continued last night. The Americans were 0-4 and have now gone 15 straight power plays without a goal. Over the last eight games the power play is 1-23 (4.3%). In the last three weeks the power play has fallen from 26.1% (ranked #3) to 18.8% (ranked #11). The penalty kill was solid last night (0-4) but is still under 80% (ranked #19 at 79.8%). 

- Here are the game recaps from both team with the goal by goal details along with the video highlights:

• Allen Americans game recap: https://allenamericans.com/news/2024/12/game-recap-americans-fall-to-wichita-4-1
• Wichita Thunder game recap: https://wichitathunder.com/news/2024/12/thunder-continues-road-swing-with-win-at-allen 
• Video Highlights:  https://echl.com/videos/wichita-thunder-vs-allen-americans-dec-18-2024

 

-  If you have been following Allen's transactions this week there have been many and certainly hard to figure out. Here is my take:

• Forward Colin Jacobs was acquired in a trade with Worcester for Ryan Mahshie
• Goalie Luke Richardson was acquired in a trade with Wheeling for future considerations. I haven't been told this but assume the futures is for a player to be named later.
• Forward Nick Isaacson lands in Allen in a multi trade deal that had to include settling some future considerations trades. Isaacson was in Cincinnati.  
• Defenseman Adam Tisdale started in Kalamazoo was traded to Allen who traded him to Cincinnati. 
• Defenseman Luc Salem started in Indy, was traded to Allen who traded him to Kalamazoo.

 

COACH'S COMMENTS

"I didn't like our game tonight. Yes, we scored the first goal, but I think we are in a little bit of a funk and feel sorry for ourselves when things don't go right. Like in the second period when we hit two posts and they make a big save on Guy and then they go down and score."

"Our best players have to be our best players and that isn't happening right now both even strength and on the power play."

"The two new players should be available by Friday. One is driving and one is flying. Isaacson is driving and will definitely by available. 

"We have to be a more physical. We are not physical enough right now. Fraser, Isaacson and Jacobs will help."

   

OTHER COMMENTS

- Here is the 18 game challenge update. After the first four games of this challenging schedule the Americans record is 0-3-1-0 and they have been outscored 22-6.

 

- I wrote yesterday about the lack of physicality from both of these teams. Wichita and Allen have always had physical play as part of their DNA going back to the Central Hockey League days. Being a physical team has always been a huge part of the Americans success. Allen's penalty minutes the four years it won championships was:

• 1571 (2012-13)
• 1498 (2013-14)
• 1644 (2014-15)
• 1189 (2015-16)

 Last night Allen and Wichita each had eight penalty minutes. In the four games these teams have played this season Allen has a total of 33 penalty minutes and Wichita has 25. Those would be low for one game totals back in the day. It is tough to watch the style of play Allen is playing now where players don't finish checks, don't stand up for each other and don't push back when getting dominated. The Allen teams of the past wouldn't let a team beat them by five or six goals without someone dropping the gloves. Yes, the game has changed, but this team has to be more physical if they want to get this turned around. 

- The gap between the top five teams in the Mountain Division and the bottom three continues to grow. The two longest losing streaks in the league right now are 14 games (Utah) and seven games (Allen). The bottom three teams in the division have two or fewer wins in the last 10 games. The top five all have five or more wins in the last 10. Here are the points earned in the last 10 games for each team in the division with points percentage in parenthesis. 

• 16 points - Tahoe (.708)
• 15 points - Kansas City (.700)
• 13 points - Wichita (.577)
• 12 points - Tulsa (.630)
• 11 points - Idaho (.560)
• 6 points - Allen (.413)
• 6 points - Rapid City (.360)
• 2 points - Utah (.271)

There are eight teams in the Mountain Division this season with the addition of Tahoe. That makes it very difficult for the bottom three teams to make the playoffs. They will have to pass two teams to make it to fourth place and the last playoff spot. Allen is 10 points out of fourth place, Rapid City is 11 points out of fourth place and Utah is 16 points out of fourth place.  

  

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about how many players teams have used. Allen is in the middle of the pack with 31 players used, but that number could increase by two before the weekend is over.

Here are the number of players used thus far by each ECHL team. Teams below .500 in point percentage are marked with an asterisk. It makes sense the teams with a poor record have used the most players, with a few exceptions:

 

41: *REA

38: *BLM

37: *ORL

35: ADK, *WOR

34: *UTA

33: *CIN, IA

31: *ALN, *KAL, *MNE, SC

32: IND

31: TUL

30: *RC, TAH

29: *ATL, FLA, JAX, NOR

28: FW, GVL, SAV, TR, WHL, WIC

26: IDH, TOL

25: KC

 

It is no coincidence most of the top teams in the league are at the bottom of this list. Eight ECHL teams have a point percentage of .700+ and seven of them have used 30 or fewer players.