The Allen Americans beat Utah 2-1 in overtime last night, flipping the script after losing in overtime to the Grizzlies on Friday. Both teams can claim success, earning three of four points in the series.
- It looked like Allen had broken a streak of giving up the first goal when Lukas Sillinger put the puck in the net early in the first period. However, when the officials conferred, after the goal was scored, the referees decided to call a retroactive offside, even though there was no whistle for offside on the play. I couldn't find anyone who had heard of a retroactive, no whistle offside after a goal was scored. All ican say about that call is C'MON MAN!
- As fate would have it, right after the no whistle offside goal, Utah scored to take a 1-0 lead. It was the fifth time in the last six games that the Americans gave up the first goal of the game. Utah took its 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
- Allen tied the score 1-1 at the 12:41 mark of the second period on the power play. Michael Gildon scored his 13th goal of the season, assisted by Andre Anania and Brayden Watts. It was the only goal of the second period. There was no scoring in the third period, even though Allen had the better opportunities and outshot Utah 12-6. Allen headed to its third straight overtime game.
- Friday night, Utah took advantage of a defensive mistake by Allen on the overtime goal. Last night, the Americans flipped the script. Ironically, the Utah player who scored the OT winner on Friday made the critical mistake. He pinched down the boards only to have Brayden Watts chip the puck past him to Andre Anania and create a 2-on-1 break. Anania buried the puck to win the game at 2:27 of overtime, on his fourth goal of the season. Here are the video highlights. Notice birthday boy Watts assisted on both goals, and leads the team in points with 48 (17G, 31A). https://echl.com/videos/utah-grizzlies-vs-allen-americans-feb-21-2026
- Here are the game recaps from both teams:
- Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2026/02/game-recap-americans-beat-utah-2-1-in-ot
- Utah Grizzlies: https://utahgrizzlies.com/news/2026/02/allen-defeats-utah-2-1-in-overtime
STEVE MARTINSON COMMENTS
"I thought we played well in the first period, even though we were behind 1-0. We had a lot of good chances."
"Colby got hit with a shot, and Sillinger hit his head when he was pulled down, so we had to play with nine forwards. We will see how they are on Monday. We will bus to Kansas City on Tuesday for games on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday."
"On the disallowed goal, I just told them you can't do that. When you don't blow the whistle, you can't go back after the goal and say it was offside. If you missed the play, it doesn't matter. You can't go back and call it offside."
"Simmons-Fischer should be back on Wednesday, and Murray is a week away. I expect to add a couple of players next week.
"Utah only had five defensemen, and I thought we could have taken more advantage of that. They are playing desperate hockey, their contracted guys can all skate, and their forwards have good speed."
"The video we looked at today was about getting pucks to the net with traffic in front. I thought we did a good job of that tonight."
"I have been looking forward to playing Kansas City for some time. We have to make sure everyone is on their "A" game. They play a very disciplined game. We need to make sure that if we are not scoring, we are defending."
"Did you see Katic smoke that guy after the OT goal? The guy had high-sticked Danny coming into the zone, just before the goal."
OTHER COMMENTS
- Allen's penalty kill hasn't given up a goal in the last three games and is sneaking back up the rankings. The PK percentage is 84.9%, which is ranked #4 in the league.
- The Mountain Division winners last night were Allen, Kansas City, Rapid City, and Tahoe. Idaho, Wichita, Utah, and Tulsa lost. Here are the points earned in the last 10 games. This shows how hard it is to gain ground in the standings. Other than Kansas City, no team stands out.
- Points earned (last 10 games)
- 20 points - Kansas City
- 11 points - Idaho
- 11 points - Allen
- 11 points - Wichita
- 11 points - Rapid City
- 11 points - Utah
- 9 points - Tahoe
- 7 points - Tulsa
- There are only six games on the ECHL schedule today. The only Mountain Division team in action is Tulsa at Greenville. Here are the previews: https://echl.com/news/2026/02/echl-today-feb-22
- Next week will be critical in the Mountain Division as it is getting down to crunch time. Most teams will be below 20 games remaining after the upcoming week. Here are the matchups:
- Allen at Kansas City - Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
- Wichita at Idaho - Wednesday, Saturday
- Tahoe at Utah - Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
- Rapid City at Tulsa - Friday, Saturday, Sunday
- I will have the series preview on Wednesday, but here is what the Americans will be up against next week in Kansas City. The Mavericks won again last night. They have lost one game in two months. One loss sandwiched between a 14-game win streak and an 11-game win streak. The Americans have played Kansas City three times this season (twice at home) and lost them all. They were outscored 14-5 in the three losses.
DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats post today is about records when leading or trailing after the second period. Allen follows the pattern. The Americans' record when leading after the second period is 18-0-2-0. When trailing after the second period, Allen is 2-14-2-0.
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