Allen vs Kansas City Preview, Remaining Schedule, Top ECHL Goalies, and My Comments on Blog Comments

 

It's game day for the Allen Americans, and another chance to get a win against the Kansas City Mavericks for the first time this season after four losses. It has actually been over a year (January 4, 2025) since an Allen team defeated Kansas City, and it was the only win against the Mavericks last season (1-9-0-0). Brayden Watts was the hero in that 5-2 win, scoring a pure hat trick to start the game and give the Americans a 3-0 lead.

 

- The Americans held their own in the 4-3 loss to the Mavericks on Wednesday, outshooting Kansas City 33-24, including 15-2 in the third period. As Coach Martiinson said about the game, "I thought the big difference in the game was the power play. They scored two goals, and we scored one. I am confident that if we play our game on Friday, we will win." 

 

- I won't have the lineup until later in the day, but we do know:

• Allen will be missing  defenseman Andre Anania, who was loaned to the AHL Iowa Wild yesterday. Andre has been one of Allen's leading scorers recently with four points (1G, 3A) in his last five games. His goal was the overtime game winner against Utah last Saturday.
• Jackson Decker will replace Anania in the lineup tonight. 
• Jackson Parsons will get the start in goal; it will be his first start since returning from Belleville. Parsons has been consistent all season. He has been in 12 games, and only once had a save percentage below .900. His season total stats are 2.39 GAA and .922 save percentage, both of which lead the team. 
• The big unknown is whether Colby McAuley will be able to play tonight. He has been day-to-day since being hit by a puck last Saturday. It will be a big lift for the team if he can play, not only for his offense, but also for his physical play, which is a key to success against Kansas City.  

 

-  Here are three keys to the game if Allen wants to get a win tonight.

• The Americans have to score the first goal. They have given up the first goal in five of the last six games. Their record when giving up the first goal is 10-17-2-0 (.379). Allen can't afford to get off to a bad start.
• Allen and Kansas City both have excellent special teams. Kansas City is ranked #4 on the power play and #1 on the penalty kill. Allen is not far behind with the #8-ranked power play and #6-ranked penalty kill. An ace in the hole for the Americans is their #2-ranked road power play (25.5%). Kansas City won the special teams battle on Wednesday, going 2-5 (40%) on the power play. Allen was 1-6 (16.7%) and was also thwarted on a penalty shot. If Allen wins the special teams battle tonight, it will likely lead to victory.
• Allen has to avoid playing from behind if it expects to win. The Americans had to try to overcome deficits of 1-0, 2-1, 3-1, 3-2, 4-2, and 4-3 on Wednesday. They can't play from behind and expect to win. These stats tell you all you need to know about the futility of coming from behind against the Mavericks, who are almost impossible to beat with a lead. Kansas City is 28-2-1-0 when scoring first, 15-1-0-0 when leading after the first period, and 26-0-0-0 when leading after the second period. 

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- It is the end of February, and the Americans are in third place in the Mountain Division by points (59) and point percentage (.578) with 21 games remaining. How does the Americans' remaining schedule compare to Tahoe and Wichita, the two teams closest to Allen in the standings? Here is a breakdown of each team's remaining schedule, with the point percentage of the opponents.

Allen - 59 points, .578, 21 games remaining

• .824 - Kansas City (3 games)
• .660 - Idaho (2 games)
• .637 - South Carolina (3 games)
• .548 - Tahoe (2 games)
• .520 - Wichita (3 games)
• .452 - Utah (2 games)
• .347 - Greensboro (3 games)
• .344 - Tulsa (3 games)

 

Tahoe - 57 points, .548, 20 games remaining

• .824 - Kansas City (5 games)
• .653 - Toledo (3 games)
• .578 - Allen (2 games)
• .500 - Cincinnati (3 games)
• .490 - Rapid City (5 games) 
• .452 - Utah (2 games)

 

Wichita - 52 points, .520, 22 games remaining

• .864 - Kansas City (6 games)
• .660 - Idaho (1 game)
• .653 - Toledo (1 game)
• .578 - Allen (3 games)
• .561 - Indy (3 games)
• .521 - Trois Riviéres (1 game)
• .490 - Rapid City (3 games)
• .452 - Utah (3 games)
• .344 - Tulsa (1 game)

 

- There are lots of ways you can slice and dice the info above. Here are some of them:

• Allen has the fewest games remaining against Kansas City and will be down to one after tomorrow night. Tahoe (5) and Wichita (6) will see a lot of the Mavericks down the stretch.
• Allen has six games remaining against teams with point percentages below .400. Wichita has one, and Tahoe has none. 
• Excluding Kansas City, the number of games remaining against teams with a point percentage above .600 is Allen (5), Tahoe (3), and Wichita (1).
• Not included above, but here is a breakdown of the remaining games by home (H) and away (A) for each team. Allen (12H, 9A), Tahoe (9H, 11A) and Wichita (8H, 14A).
• All in all, I would say Allen has the most favorable schedule down the stretch.

 

- There are 13 games on the ECHL schedule tonight. Two of the idle teams are Idaho and Wichita. The six Mountain Division teams in action are Allen at Kansas City, Rapid City at Tulsa, and Tahoe at Utah. Here is the ECHL Today with all of the previews: https://echl.com/news/2026/02/echl-today-feb-27 

 

- A win tonight by Kansas City will be its 17th straight home win and move the Mavericks to #3 all-time, just two wins behind the all-time record of 19 straight home wins. A win will also improve Kansas City's point percentage to .827, which will be on pace for the highest point percentage in the history of the league. Idaho set the all-time record of .826 in 2022-23. The only other time an ECHL team has finished a season with a point percentage above .800 was in 2001-02 when the Louisiana IceGators finished at .806.      

- I don't normally enter the fray by commenting on comments from the blog, but I felt compelled to do so today. I rarely deleted any blog comments before the disaster of last season. That is when I decided to try and focus the blog comments on the on-ice product and not every complaint or compliment readers have about the facility, concessions, broadcasters, interns, team store, and front office staff,  just to name a few.

I will be the first to admit I am not always consistent in deletions, but I wanted to share what I am trying to do. I will rededicate myself to being more consistent in deleting all comments (good or bad) on these off-ice issues. If you have off-ice issues, suggestions, ideas, and complaints, or want to compliment someone, I encourage you to go directly to the team president or the front office staff person responsible.  

As a reminder, any personal insults, foul language, slurs, or attacks will be deleted, no matter the topic or the comment. 

I want the blog to be a place where readers feel comfortable sharing their comments without them being deleted. I just ask you to limit your comments to the on-ice product. Finally, I want to thank you for your continued support for this labor of love that has now reached 2790 published blogs and 3.97 million page views. 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: Last season, 12 ECHL goalies finished with a GAA under 2.50, with three being below 2.10. So far this season, there are 18 with a GAA below 2.50, and six are under 2.10 (minimum of 960 minutes played). Here are the top six goalies by GAA:

 

1.94 - Logan Terness, Kansas

1.99 - T.J. Semptimphelter, Atlanta

2.00 - *Taylor Gauthier, Wheeling

2.00 - Hunter Jones, Trois Rivières

2.04 - *Cam Johnson, Florida

2.09 - Jack LaFontaine, Kansas City 

 

*Johnson (1.92) and Gauthier (2.06) were two of the three goalies who finished with a GAA below 2.10 last season.