Allen Loses 3-2 in OT, Game Recaps, Video Highlights, Coach's Comments. Tonight's Preview, Division Home & Away Games, NHL, AHL, ECHL Trade Deadlines

 

It was a late night if you stayed up to watch the ending of the Allen Americans game and once again came away disappointed. The Americans lost 3-2 in overtime to Tahoe in a game that didn't finish until 12:13 am Allen time. It was another one goal loss and the 11th straight for the Americans.

 

- Unlike recent losses, last night the Americans were ready to go from the opening puck drop and were the better team for much of the  first two periods, but ran out of gas in the third period. Maybe the altitude (6232 ft.) was a factor. There was no scoring in the first period. Allen took a 2-0 lead in the second period on goals by Jared Westcott, his first since joining the Americans and Quinn Warmuth, his third of the season. Tahoe cut the score to 2-1 at the 14:21 mark of the second period. 

 

- The Americans took their 2-1 lead into the second intermission and the statistical odds were definitely in Allen's favor. Third period comebacks in the ECHL are a rarity even though Tahoe has one of the better records when trailing after the second period (6-17-1-0). Allen's record when leading after the second period was 10-1-2-1. 

 

- The third period was dominated by Tahoe who outshot Allen 11-3. The tying goal was scored on the power play after Allen took a hooking penalty. It was scored just two seconds into the power play. It was even more strange that the Tahoe faceoff guy was thrown out of the faceoff circle and another forward had to take the faceoff. He won the faceoff cleanly to a player at the opposite point and it was in the net. 

 

- Allen managed just one shot in the last seven minutes of the game compared to six by Tahoe. Dylan Wells, as he did all night, kept the Americans in the game. Allen took a penalty late in the period (17:51) and Tahoe took one at 19:04 which carried over to overtime. Allen had 64 seconds of 4-on-3 power play time to start the overtime.

 

- The overtime was a disappointment, especially the 64 seconds of power play time. Allen lost the faceoff to start the overtime so had to go back into their own zone to breakout. Then the puck jump a stick on the first entry into the offensive zone and they had to chase it back into their own zone. When Allen did finally get set up, they did a good job of moving the puck, but shooters seemed to pass up good shots. The Americans finally shot three times in the last 10 seconds of the power play with one being blocked and two missing the net. 

There were three faceoffs in overtime with Tahoe winning all three. Allen didn't manage a single shot on goal in overtime. At 2:30 mark Slava Demin was left all alone when two players went to the puck carrier. Demin, who played in Allen 2023-24, skated in uncontested and beat Dylan Wells. It was bad enough that a former player scored the game winner, but even worse considering it was Demin's first goal of the year (32 games) and just the third of his ECHL career (86 games).

 

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

• Allen's game recap: https://allenamericans.com/news/2025/02/game-recap-americans-lose-heartbreaker-in-ot
• Tahoe's game recap: https://knightmonstershockey.com/news/2025/03/tahoe-lights-up-the-night-in-ot-defeats-allen-3-2
  
• Video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-tahoe-knight-monsters-feb-28-2025

 

- I went to sleep after the first period, but had asked coach Ferguson before the game started to send me his thoughts after the game as I would be sleeping. I typically contact him shortly after the game ends. To show you how different our schedules are he left me his comments at 1:20 am Tahoe time and I got up at 3:30 am (1:30 am Tahoe time). Asked him a followup question about the overtime, if he was still up, and sure enough he responded right away. At 1:40 am Tahoe time he was just going to sleep and I was just getting up. Go figure.

I was able to watch the second and third periods before starting to write the blog. Here is what coach Ferguson had to say about the game:

"We played really well tonight. We were able to get pucks behind their defense and hunt them down which led to some success early on. "

"As the game wore on we started to get too cute with the puck, especially inside their blue line that led to chances against. Too many times we went away from what made us successful."

"Wells held us in the game with some big, timely saves. It was a tough bounce on the power play tying goal. A wobbly puck that is hard to track."

"We responded well and had a big kill at the end of regulation. 

"The overtime was disappointing, especially the minute of power play time. We lost the faceoff and had trouble getting set up in the offensive zone. When we did get set up we moved the puck well, but our shooters didn't like the looks of their shots. When we finally did get some shots at the end of the power play we had one blocked and two missed the net."

"Tahoe is a team fighting for their playoff lives, clinging on to its position. We need to match their desperation and intensity in the next two games."

 

- Allen has been so close to ending this losing streak and they do not need much to get over the hump. If they get another good start tonight, win the special teams battle and get another good goalie performance they will win. Last night Allen was 0-3 on the power play and Tahoe was 1-3. 

 

- Allen will be playing short one player again tonight as Cole Fraser will be serving the last of his three game suspension. Allen played with only five defensemen last night and 12 forwards. If Ferguson opts to do that again tonight he will have to make sure the defensmen manage the puck and manage their shifts with the high elevation.  

 

- The referee tonight will be the same as last night, #25 David Lily. He only called six minor penalties in the game last night, so pretty much let the players play.

 

      

OTHER COMMENTS

- Allen played well enough to win last night and did manage to earn a point. With that said they lost ground in the "Best of the Rest" race as Utah beat Kansas City 3-2 and Rapid City beat Idaho 8-5. Rapid City has now won 11 straight while Allen has lost 11 straight. The Rush no longer belong in the "Best of the Rest" race as they are 11 points ahead of Utah and 18 points ahead of Allen. Rapid City is seven points from fifth place (Idaho) and 11 points from a playoff spot (Wichita). Here are the Mountain Division standings by points with total games remaining broken down home (H) and Away (A) in parenthesis:

• 75 points - Kansas City (19 - 11H, 8A)
• 68 points - Tulsa (18 - 9H, 9A)
• 66 points - Tahoe (18 - 12H, 6A)
• 65 points - Wichita (19 - 5H, 14A)
• 61 points - Idaho (19 - 8H, 11A)
• 54 points - Rapid City (19 10H, 9A)
• 43 points - Utah (18 - 7H, 11A)
• 36 points - Allen (19 - 10H, 9A)   

 

- Another full schedule in the ECHL tonight with 14 games. All Mountain Division teams are in action with some different opponents.

• Allen at Tahoe and Idaho at Rapid City remain the same.
•  Kansas City lost to Utah at home last night and travels to Wichita to take on the Thunder tonight. 
• Tulsa beat the Thunder in Wichita last night and will be at home tonight against Utah.

Here is the ECHL Today with previews of all 14 games tonight: https://echl.com/news/2025/03/echl-today-march-1 

DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about the upcoming NHL, AHL, and ECHL trade deadlines. It is hard to tell if  Utah and Tucson will be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline. Tucson is currently in fifth place in the AHL North Division, but five teams make the playoffs. Utah is currently outside the playoffs, in fourth place in the wild card race in the Western Conference. The top two teams get the wild card spots. How the deadline trades workout in Utah and Tucson could impact Allen. If the affiliates are buyers and add prospects, Allen could get additional players assigned for the tail end of the season. If they are sellers and trade away players the contracted players in Allen could get recalled.

 

Trade deadline dates mean a lot of player movement in the next couple of weeks: 

 

NHL: deadline is next Friday, March 7 at 3:00 pm ET.

 

AHL: deadline is Friday, March 14 at 3:00 pm ET.

 

ECHL: deadline is Thursday, March 20 at 3:00 pm ET

 

ECHL teams could be impacted by the NHL/AHL deadlines whether their affiliates are buyers or sellers. Some ECHL teams will get more players assigned and some will get players recalled/loaned.