Allen's 2-1 OT Win Earns 2nd Place, Video Highlights, Martinson Comments, Playoff Schedule, Allen Players in ECHL Top Ten, 1st Round Playoff Matchups and More

 

The Allen Americans beat Kansas City 2-1 in overtime last night to leapfrog Idaho for second place in the Mountain Division. It wasn't the prettiest win of Allen's 12-game points streak (11-0-1-0) to secure second place, but it was definitely the most exciting.  

 

- The good news is that the Americans met all three keys to the game from yesterday's preview. 

• Both of these teams win about 90% of the points when they score first. Harrison Blaisdell accomplished that for Allen with his 31st goal of the season at the 16:12 mark of the first period. It was the only goal in the period. Taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission leads to the second key.
• Both of these teams are lethal with the lead. Their combined record when leading after the first period is 38-2-2-0. Allen avoided playing from behind the entire game. 
• The third key was winning the special reams battle. The Mavericks entered the game with the #1 penalty kill and #3 power play in the league. Allen's penalty kill was perfect (0-3), including killing a 4-on-3 in overtime. Allen's power play was 1-4. The Americans scored the game-winning goal at 5:16 of overtime on the power play. It was Harrison Blaisdell to the rescue again, scoring his second goal of the game and 32nd of the season. 

 

- It wasn't all good news when analyzing the game. Allen never trailed in the game, but they got outplayed in the second and third periods. 

• Kansas City tied the game with 90 seconds remaining in the second period. It wasn't a power-play goal; it was scored three seconds after a penalty expired. The Mavericks had the puck in the Allen zone the entire power play. They took five shots, all of which Mirwald stopped, but the Americans lost all five of the faceoffs. The attack was relentless until what looked like a harmless wrist shot from the blueline, by a former Allen defenseman (Hudson Wilson), found its way into the net just as the penalty expired. 
• The shot totals favored Kansas City, 13-5 in the second period and 17-4 in the third period. To say there was some doubt whether Allen could get the game to overtime would be an understatement. The defense held up in a large part by the play of rookie goalie Brett Mirwald, who came up with great saves time and time again in the third period. His totals for the game were 39 of 40 shots saved, GAA  0.92, and a save percentage .975, plus #1 star of the game.

 

- Here are some of the stats from the game analytics software the Americans use:

•  Shots
• Allen: 53 shots - 19 on goal - 2 goals
• Kansas City: 59 shots - 37 on goal - 1 goal

 

• Puck Possession
• Allen: 47%  (21.32 minutes)
• Kansas City: 53% (23:55 minutes)

 

• Faceoffs
• Allen: 46% (29)
• Kansas City  54% (34)

 

• Most telling are the analytic stats related to special teams. Allen lost 8 of 10 faceoffs when they were on the power play. The Americans took nine shots on four power plays, and just two were on goal, but one was the game-winner.   

 

- Here are the video highlights and game recap:

• Video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/kansas-city-mavericks-vs-allen-americans-apr-18-2026 
• Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/news/2026/04/americans-beat-kc-in-ot

 

PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

- Get ready for a condensed schedule for the playoff series against Idaho. Arena availability always drives dates, and the switch of positions complicated things. The first five games of the series take place in six days, including travel by both teams to Boise on the one day off:

• Game 1 in Allen: Thursday, April 23, 7:10 pm CDT
• Game 2 in Allen: Friday, April 24, 7:10 pm CDT
• Travel to Idaho: Saturday, April 25
• Game 3 in Idaho: Sunday, April 26, 4:10 pm MDT
• Game 4 in Idaho, Monday, April 27, 7:10 pm MDT
• Game 5 in Idaho, Tuesday, April 28, 7:10 pm MDT*
• Game 6 in Allen, Saturday, May 2, 7:10 pm CDT*
• Game 7 in Allen, Sunday, May 3, 4:10 pm CDT*
• *if necessary 

 

MARTINSON'S POST-GAME COMMENTS

 - Coach Martinson held court with the season ticket holders after the game and talked about the win that clinched second place and the upcoming playoffs:

"Hats off to the guys who earned 23 of 24 points over the last month. I am really proud of their effort."

"Tomorrow will be a big day. Belleville will be meeting with all of their players. I will be on the phone with them to determine which of the eight players on their roster will be assigned to Allen. We won't take all eight players."   

"We need to take more shots on our power play. Too many times tonight, we went to the side of the net instead of screening the goalie. I will show the guys a video of how many times we went to the side of the net." 

"We had too many shots against tonight, and to beat the top teams in the playoffs, we will have to be a little better than we are right now. The players we get from Belleville will help."

"Today was a big day in the Martinson household as our daughter Lily got engaged. Michelle has been busy planning a surprise engagement party for her, which was earlier today."  

   

OTHER COMMENTS

- Now that Allen's regular season is in the books, here are the players who finished top 10 in the league:

• Goals
• #1 - Danny Katic (38)
• #3 - Harrison Blaisdell (35)

 

• Points
• #3 - Brayden Watts (75)
• #6 - Danny Katic (70)

 

• Power Play Goals
• #3 - Danny Katic (11)
• #4 - Colton Hargrove (10)

 

• Power Play Points
• #4 - Sam Sedley (30)

 

• Power Play Assists
• #3 - Sam Sedley (27)
• #5 - Brayden Watts (20)
• #10 - Hank Crone (18) 

 

• Assists
• #2 - Brayden Watts (51)
• #4 - Sam Sedley (47) 

 

• Points (Defensemen)
• #4 - Sam Sedley (55)

 

• Assists (Defensemen)
• #2 - Sam Sedley (47)

Other mentions include Danny Katic #1 in shooting percentage (26.0%), Colton Hargrove #4 in shots (242), and two players that played in all 72 games (Michael Gildon & Harrison Blaisdell). 

  

 

- Brett Mirwald's stat line since joining the Americans after completing his college season is:

• Record - 5-0-1-0
• GAA - 1.58
• Save percentage - .950   

 

- There have been seasons when teams below .500 make the playoffs, but not the case this season. The lowest-ranked team in the playoffs will be Savannah, ranked #20 with 74 points and a .514 points percentage. Kansas City is #1 with 115 points and .799 point percentage. Those totals are the third-highest (tied) in ECHL history. 

 

 

DID YOU KNOW: All ECHL first-round playoff matchups have been decided except in the Central Division:

 

North

#1 Wheeling vs #4 Reading

#2 Maine vs #3 Adirondack 

 

South

#1 Florida vs #4 Savannah

#2 South Carolina vs #3 Atlanta 

 

Mountain

#1 Kansas City vs #4 Tahoe

#2 Allen vs #3 Idaho

 

Central

Kalamazoo plays at Fort Wayne today, and the results of that game will decide all four seeds in the division. None is determined yet.