The Allen Americans started their Thursday and Sunday Utah series in style last night with a 6-2 win over the Grizzlies. Colby McAuley scored 73 seconds after the opening puck drop, and the Americans never looked back. Allen had a 5-0 lead before Utah got on the scoreboard late in the third period. Utah scored a power-play goal with less than five minutes remaining in the game, and an even-strength goal with three seconds remaining to spoil a shutout for Jackson Parsons, who deserved a better fate.
Here is what went right for Allen, and the list is long:
- Allen scored first and improved its record when scoring the first goal to 23-2-3-0 (.875). Kansas City is the only ECHL team that has a better record when scoring first.
- Allen scored the only goal of the first period and took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. The Americans' record when leading after the first period is now 14-1-2-0.
- Allen scored the only goal of the second period and took a 2-0 lead into the second intermission. The Americans' record when leading after the second period is now 24-0-2-0.
- Allen outshot Utah 39-25, including 29-13 in the final two periods.
- Allen won the special teams battle, scoring two power-play goals. Allen's road power play percentage improved to 24.8%, #2 in the league.
- Allen stayed out of the penalty box, taking just three penalties for six minutes; Utah took eight penalties for 24 minutes.
- Allen scored six goals after scoring seven last Sunday. The Americans' goals-per-game average is 3.52, #3 in the league.
- Six players, including two defensemen, had two or more points.
- Allen scored four third-period goals to improve its third-period goal differential to +6. The second period is still by far the best for the Americans (+33), and the first period is the worst (-7).
- Goal scorers for Allen were Colby McAuley (21), Colton Hargrove (20), Sam Sedley (7), Harrison Blaisdell (24,25), and Andre Anania (6). In addition, Brayden Watts had two assists, and Michael Gildon had three. Here are the video highlights with all of the goals, a bunch of great saves, and a few of the scrums, as well as the recaps from both teams with goal-by-goal details.
- Video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/allen-americans-vs-utah-grizzlies-mar-26-2026
- Allen Americans - "Americans Handle Grizzlies 6-2." https://allenamericans.com/news/2026/03/game-recap-americans-handle-grizzlies-6-2
- Utah Grizzlies - "Grizzlies Fall 6-2 on Thursday Night." https://utahgrizzlies.com/news/2026/03/grizzlies-fall-6-2-on-thursday-night-at-maverik-center
- The Americans will now have a very rare Friday and Saturday off on the road. It is a great time to have some downtime with the basketball Sweet 16 games (Men's & Women's) and the hockey Regional semifinals in full swing. Also, plenty to do outdoors, from a visit to the mountains (Snowbird or Park City) to the Great Salt Lake. The team is off today and will practice on Saturday:
- COACH MARTINSON COMMENTS
- I had a chance to talk to Coach Martinson this morning, and we covered a lot of ground. His plan for the day was an extra-long session at the gym and then making calls, putting together the video clips he will use at practice tomorrow, and general research.
"Sam Sedley has been loaned to Belleville again and will miss the game on Sunday. It is an opportunity for him to play. He is from Ontario, so I am sure he will have friends and family come and watch him play. It is a win-win for everybody. We still have six defensemen, so we will be okay."
"We won't get any additional players for Sunday. We will play with 10 forwards and six defensemen. That is not an issue since we have two days off between games. We had a big night last night playing three lines and six defensemen. Because we have guys coming from the AHL, I don't want to bring in a player just for the sake of bringing them in for the short term."
"I still expect we will be getting AHL players assigned, but not sure when and how many. We have open spots on the roster and need some more players for the playoffs when the roster expands to 25."
"Dubois played well for his first pro game. He wins faceoffs, is diligent defensively, and finishes checks."
"You could see Hargrove's explosive speed make a difference on the power play entries last night."
"It is unfortunate that a couple of turnovers late in the game led to goals and cost Parsons a shutout."
OTHER COMMENTS
- How the Americans performed last season has no bearing on this season, but I come across these stats accidentally all the time. Earlier in the season, it was about home wins. Allen had matched last season's home wins (7) by December 19 and now has 18 home wins with seven home games remaining. Today I was looking at points by defensemen. Last season, the total was 98. With 10 games remaining, the Americans' defensemen have 152 points.
- Two more teams can clinch playoff spots tonight, Toledo and Idaho. Thus far, only four teams have clinched playoff spots. Three of the four are from the South Division (Florida, South Carolina, and Atlanta). The other is Kansas City in the Mountain Division, which has already clinched the division and is on the way to the Brabham Cup (regular season champion).
- There are 11 games on the ECHL schedule today. Allen is idle but will be interested in the five Mountain Division teams in action:
- Rapid City at Tahoe
- South Carolina at Idaho
- Kansas City at Wichita
- Jackson Parsons is now just 14 minutes away from becoming qualified for ECHL goalie stats. It takes 1200 minutes played, and Parsons is at 1186. The 1200 minutes will increase to 1440 by the end of the season. Parson's .925 save percentage is top five in the league, and his 2.33 GAA is top 10. In 19 games played this season, his save percentage has been under .900 just three times. Since Allen joined the ECHL in 2014-15, a .925+ save percentage has been accomplished just three times:
- .935 - Riley Gill, 2016-17
- .927 - Jake Paterson. 2020-21
- .925 - Jackson Parsons. 2025-26
No comments:
Post a Comment