Allen Sweeps the Rush, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Post Game Comments, Allen vs Tulsa Preview and More

 

It was an exciting night in the Mountain Division with a lot of points earned last night. Four games, all went to overtime and the four home teams (Allen, Kansas City, Tulsa, Utah) came out the winner. None of the overtime games were more exciting than the Americans come from behind 3-2 win over Rapid City.

 

- The first period was scoreless with both teams having multiple power play opportunities. Rapid City had the shot advantage 13-6. The second period has been Allen's Achilles heal numerous times this season and it was again last night. Rapid City scored the first goal of the the game early in the period (2:38) and took a 2-0 lead with a shorthanded goal at the 11:09 mark. The Rush had numerous shorthanded goal opportunities in this series and finally made the Americans pay. It was Rapid City's league leading (tied) seventh shorthanded goal. It was Allen's sixth shorthanded goal allowed. Only four ECHL teams have allowed more shorthanded goal.

 

- To say it looked bleak when Allen went onto the second intermission losing 2-0 would be an understatement. Allen's record this season when trailing after the second period was 1-18-2-1 and the one comeback win was from a one goal deficit. Nobody told this resurgent Americans team they couldn't come back.

 

- The third period belonged to the Americans. It looked like the Americans had finally scored a goal at the 4:09 mark, but the referee waived off the goal and called a penalty. It finally happened at 13:11 when Mark Duarte scored his 16th goal of the season. You could tell at that point all the momentum was with Allen. Just 80 seconds later the Americans tied the score 2-2 and it was a power play goal, which had struggled in this series 1-13 (7.7%), that got the job done. If you watch the replay you will see Polino take a one-timer from the circle that hits the Rapid defender at the net in the helmet. He drops to the ice as does the puck. Spencer Asuchak was all alone in front and put the  puck in the back of the net. 

- There was still over five minutes remaining in the game when Allen tied the score. Both teams took penalties, but Rapid City had the better opportunities taking the last five shots of the game. 

- Extra time has not been kind to the Americans this season. Last night was the 11th extra time game. Of the first 10 the Americans won two, lost seven in overtime and one in a shootout. That computes to an extra time point percentage of just .273. Only two other ECHL teams have a lower point percentage. 

Last night Allen was the better team in overtime. Rapid City managed just one shot to three for Allen including the game winner by Kyle Crnkovic at the 2:08 mark. As Kyle said when he was talking to the season ticket members after the game, "We had a 2-on-1 with Watts and myself and the defender was taking away Watts so I ended up shooting and it went in. For Crnkovic it was back to back game winning goals. Kyle now leads the Americans in game winning goals with four.

 

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

• Allen Americans game recap: https://allenamericans.com/news/2025/02/game-recap-americans-sweep-rush-with-3-2-overtime-win 
• Rapid City Rush game recap: https://rapidcityrush.com/news/2025/02/game-recap-rush-loses-two-goal-lead-falls-in-overtime 
• Video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/rapid-city-rush-vs-allen-americans-feb-1-2025 

- Dylan Well continued his outstanding play with numerous outstanding saves. For the third straight game his save percentage was above .950. Last night he saved 40 of 42 shots for a GAA of 1.93 and a save percentage of .952. It has been a Goalie of the Week performance by Wells already and Allen plays one more game today. After his performance the last three games I would assume it will be his choice if he wants to play again this afternoon. It is very hard to play three games in three days with travel and an early start (3:00 pm) in game three. Here are Dylan's stats this week:

• Wednesday - 2.00 GAA, .957 save percentage
• Friday - 1.01 GAA, .969 save percentage
• Saturday - 1.93 GAA, .952 save percentage
  

POST GAME COMMENTS

- Coach Ferguson brought Kyle Crnkovic to his post game meeting with the season ticket members. It was another standing room only crowd as these are becoming more and more popular. Here is what they had to say:

"I think you got your money's worth tonight. It was kind of a weird game. The referee must have gotten a new whistle and was testing it out.".....Ferguson

"They had two fluky goals. One from below the goal that bounced off the back of the goalie and the other was a shorthanded goal where we had a little miscommunication.".....Ferguson

"I thought we played pretty well 5-on-5 and we need to do more of that. Our power play had a great goal to tie the game up late. I know they have been pushing and pushing and pushing to score one and it was awesome to see.".....Ferguson

"It was a great team win. We won the race to three goals again and things ended up on the right side  tonight.".....Ferguson

"It felt unreal to come back like that and do it in front of a home crowd. You gave us energy all night and there is no better feeling than winning a game like that.".....Crnkovic

"On our power play we have one unit that is all forwards. Usually they score for us. They have been playing together on the power play for the last 15 or so games. Our other unit does have a defenseman.".....Ferguson

"We did lose a defenseman halfway through the second period and that is very taxing on the five remaining. Those were some hard minutes because we had so many penalty kills. Guys were going constantly and it was a gutsy performance by our defensemen tonight.".....Ferguson

"The rule on the game misconducts for fighting states you can't fight after a whistle during a legal line change. The league doesn't want any crap going on between the whistles. However, there was a lot of crap tonight. Credit to our guys for pushing through. I think Rapid's game plan was to get under our skin a little bit and it worked. But we hit that refresh button in the third period and the guys really pushed and came back.".....Ferguson

"On my goal there was kind of a scramble in our end. To be honest we were probably out there a bit too long. After a good save by Wells, me and Watts had a 2-on-1 and they know he is a good shooter so they tried to take him away a little bit so I thought I would shoot it and thankfully it went in.".....Crnkovic 

"Tomorrow it will be three games in three days for both teams. We will get on the bus early tomorrow and head to Tulsa and our goal is to get right into the game. Tulsa plays hard, their forwards are quick and our mindset has to be there is only one player that has to play 60 minutes and that is the goalie. The other players just have to play their 12-15-18 shifts and you just have to get thorough those. It is going to be a battle day for sure, but that is the way this league crumbles sometimes and we will be ready for it.".....Ferguson

"I noticed in the second period Rapid City started coming down our walls a lot on our wingers and that puts more stress on our wingers to get the puck out. We didn't handle that stress in the second period. We were getting hemmed in, we iced the puck, so then we were out there tired, we had to take those defensive zone faceoffs and they were winning the faceoffs. Credit to them as they worked hard and they have some long, rangy defensemen that come down the wall.".....Ferguson

ALLEN VS TULSA PREVIEW

- It seems like cruel and unusual punishment after the tough series against Rapid City that the Americans had to get up early this morning and get on a bus to travel to Tulsa. No time for proper rest and recovery and then sitting on a bus for a few hours. No doubt there is more risk of injury to players in this situation. Yes, Tulsa will also be playing three games in three days, but they didn't play on Wednesday and have been at home all week. Bottom line is this will be a tough task for the Americans.

- Allen has struggled against Tulsa this season, The Oilers are 6-1-0-0 against the Americans, though two of the losses were in overtime. 

 

- As you would expect the stats heavily favor Tulsa who has a .628 point percentage compared to Allen's .405. Here is a comparison:

• Tulsa averages 3.5 goals per game, Allen 2.6
• Tulsa allows 3.0 goals per game, Allen 4.0
• Tulsa takes 38.5 shots per game, Allen 28.1
• Tulsa allows 30.7 shots per game, Allen 39.3
• Tulsa's power play percentage is 21.4%, Allen's is 19.5%
• Tulsa's penalty kill percentage is 82.2%, Allen's is 79.5%
• Tulsa's point percentage when they score 1st in .841, Allen's is .475
   

 - You look at all of the stats it is pretty clear on paper Tulsa has a huge advantage in the game this afternoon, but fortunately they don't play games on paper. Both teams are on three game win streaks.

 

- All the typical keys to the game apply, but first among equals for the Americans is getting off to a good start. Tulsa is almost unbeatable when it scores the first goal of the game with a record of 17-2-2-1. 

- Some nice streaks for Allen players on the line today:

• Kyle Crnkovic has a point in six straight games (4G, 5A).
• Spencer Asuchak has six goals in the last four games.
  
• Brayden Watts has six assists in the last four games.

OTHER COMMENTS

 - How rare was coming back from a 2-0 deficit in the third period. Allen and Rapid City had a combined record of 1-39-5-1 when trailing after the second period prior to last night. 

 

- A few firsts were accomplished with the win last night:

• First series sweep of the season.
• First three game win streak of the season.
• First time Allen has allowed fewer than three goals in three straight games. 
• First time Allen has had 30+ shots in five straight games. 

- All three teams in the "Best of the Rest" sweepstakes earned points last night, but Allen not only maintained its lead, but crossed the .400 point percentage level for the first time in over a month. Here are standings:

• .405 - Allen
• .402 - Utah
• .381 - Rapid City   

 

DID YOU KNOW: It was a great night in the ECHL last night. 28 of the 29 teams were in action (14 games). Here are the stats:

 

- 14 games with average attendance of 6828.

- 50% of the games, 7 of 14, went to overtime.

- 5 of the 7 overtime games were won by the home team.

- All 4 Mountain Division games went to overtime with the home team winning them all.

- The margin of victory was 2 or fewer goals in 11 of the 14 games.