Allen Wins Series With 2-1 OT Victory, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Martinson Comments, PIMS and Championships and More

 

Anytime you win a road series in the ECHL it is a good week, and that is what the Allen Americans accomplished in Tulsa Sunday afternoon. A 2-1 overtime victory over the Oilers sent the Americans back to Allen, winning two of three games from Tulsa and solidifying their hold on 3rd place in the Mountain Division.

 

- Allen overcame some obstacles to secure the win:

• The Americans gave up the first goal for the 26th time in 48 games (54%).
• Americans trailed 1-0 after the 1st period. Their record when trailing after 1st period (3-14-1-0).
• Allen's OT record was 0-4 before yesterday.
• Allen spent almost half of the 2nd period (9 minutes) on the power play and failed to score a power play goal, after scoring four power play goals on Saturday.

 

-  Tulsa scored the only goal of the first period (13:48) while outshooting Allen 14-6. Allen scored the only goal of the second period while outshooting Tulsa 17-14. Danny Katic scored his 22nd goal of the season, assisted by Hank Crone and Kevin Gursoy. Katic is 5th in the ECHL in goals. Crone is 2nd in the league in assists (34).

 

- Shots were even in the third period (10-10), but there was no scoring. Allen had to kill off two penalties, including one late in the period (17:07), to force overtime. Neither team had been very successful in winning games in overtime. Allen was 0-4, and Tulsa was 1-3. At 3:21 of overtime, Brayden Watts took a pass from Katic just inside the blueline and took a shot from the slot that just trickled past the goalie for the game winner. 

 

- Here are the video highlights. Something to watch for on all three goals. Tulsa's lone goal was scored from behind the goal line when Josh Nelson shot the puck off Costantini's back. On Allen's game-tying goal, Danny Katic was at the goal post and did what he does so often, get the puck in the net from close range. On Watts' overtime goal, notice how he is late getting into the offensive zone, but enters with speed to take a perfectly timed pass from Katic and takes a shot that just sneaks through the goalie. https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-tulsa-oilers-feb-15-2026

 

- Here are the game recaps from both teams:

• Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2026/02/watts-ot-winner-lifts-allen-over-tulsa
• Tulsa Oilers: https://tulsaoilers.com/news/2026/02/oilers-end-neck-and-neck-weekend-with-allen-on-overtime-loss 

 

- I had a chance to swap messages with Coach Martinson as the team was headed home last night. This is what he had to say:

"Tulsa is playing desperate hockey in that they competed hard."

"I thought we played our best game on Friday, when we lost."

"Tulsa has gotten a few guys back, and they have good speed."

"We played four games in five days, and that makes a difference in the fourth game."

 "Our offense will pick up again." 

 

- Next up for the Americans are the Utah Grizzlies. Luckily, the Americans play only two games this week, so there's some time to rest and heal those sore bodies before taking on Utah Friday and Saturday. (7:10 pm).

 

OTHER COMMENTS

- Allen managed two wins in Tulsa this weekend despite scoring just one even-strength goal in three games against the worst team in the league. The Oilers were giving up an average of  3.8 goals per game entering the series. Allen's power play was spectacular on Saturday, but it was 0-5 on Friday and 0-3 on Sunday. In its last seven games, the Americans have scored zero or one goal in regulation four times.

In the 12 games before the last seven, Allen's goals scored were:

• 7 goals - 1 time
• 6 goals - 1 time
• 5 goals - 4 times
• 4 goals - 3 times
• 3 goals - 2 times
• 2 goals - 1 time 

 

- Allen has the #6 penalty kill percentage (84.6%) and #7 power play percentage (21.2%) in the ECHL. The only other team in the league in the top seven in both is Kansas City. The Mavericks have the #1 penalty kill percentage (89.8%) and the #5 power play percentage (21.8%).  

 

- Kansas City has opened up an eight-point lead over Idaho and has two games in hand over the Steelheads. The Mavericks play in Orlando today (1:00 pm EST) in a school day game. Wichita beat Idaho by a score of 4-1 on Saturday and Sunday to close the gap in the race for the playoffs. Here are the Mountain Division standings with games remaining in parentheses:

• 76 points - Kansas City (25)
• 68 points - Idaho (23)
• 56 points - Allen (24) 
• 52 points - Tahoe (24)
• 49 points - Wichita (26)
• 45 points - Rapid City 26)
• 41 points - Utah (24)
• 30 points - Tulsa (27) 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW:  Proof that two very different styles of play can lead to regular-season success in the ECHL:

Idaho is ranked #3 in points percentage (.694) and #2 in penalty minutes (768 minutes).

Toledo is ranked #5 in points percentage and #30 in penalty minutes (386 minutes).

 

 

High penalty, physical teams tend to dominate the Kelly Cup championship. Only two of the last 10 Kelly Cup champions had less than 1000 PIM in the regular season.

 

 Here is the penalty minute rank and penalty minutes for the last 10 Kelly Cup champions:

#7 (1012 PIM) - Trois Rivières (2025)

#19 (865 PIM) - Florida (2024)

#11 (1016 PIM) - Florida (2023)

#8 (1071 PIM) - Florida (2022)

#1 (1300 PIM) - Fort Wayne (2021), adjusted for 72 games

#25 (786 PIM) - Newfoundland (2019)

#2 (1377 PIM) - Colorado (2018)

#2 (1415 PIM) - Colorado (2017)

#5 (1189 PIM) - Allen (2016)

#1 (1644 PIM) - Allen (2015)