There are so many storylines from the Allen Americans' 4-0 win over Greensboro last night, I don't know where to start. Here they go in no particular order:
- Rookie goalie Brett Mirwald had a 33-save shutout after a 25-save shutout on Friday, which was his first professional start. His only other game action was in South Carolina in the third period of a 7-1 Allen win, when he stopped all six shots he faced. You add it all up, and he has played 133 minutes as a pro and still hasn't given up a goal, saving all 64 shots he has faced. No doubt he will be the ECHL Goalie of the Week when that is announced on Monday.
- Allen won a three-game home series for the first time all season. The Americans did win four straight against Wichita in January, but it was two home and two away.
- Allen has won six straight games, matching the longest win streak of the season (January 4-16).
- Allen's defense hasn't given up a goal in 129 minutes and 17 seconds.
- With the win last night, Allen has tripled the number of home wins from last season (21 vs 7), and four home games are remaining. Allen's home wins the last four seasons were 7, 17, 18, 20.
- Danny Katic scored an empty net goal, his 35th of the season. He has a three-goal lead in the race for most goals in the league this season.
- Here is what happened in the 4-0 win last night.
- Allen scored the first goal for the sixth straight game and won them all. The Americans' record when scoring first improved to 27-2-3-0 (.891).
- Allen outshot Greensboro in every period. They had 41 shots on goal, the most shots in 20 games.
- Allen scored in all three periods, leading 2-0 after the first and 3-0 after the second. Allen's record when leading after the second period is 27-0-2-0 (.966).
- Colby McAuley got the party started at 8:46 of the first period, scoring his 24th goal of the season. Colby passed to Crone in the slot and was in a perfect position to put in the rebound of Crone's shot.
- Allen's second goal was a great give-and-go play between Maxim Barbashev and Kevin Gursoy. The first-period goal, Barbashev's eighth of the season (first in Allen) at the 11:52 mark, gave the Americans a 2-0 lead.
- Allen extended the lead to 3-0 on the only goal of the second period at 14:54. Spencer Asuchak carried the puck into the zone and dropped a pass behind him to Ty Prefontaine in the slot, and he buried it. It was his eighth goal of the season, tied with Sam Sedley for the lead among defensemen.
- Allen finished the scoring with Katic's empty net goal with 49 seconds remaining in the game. Danny got his money's worth shooting the puck from behind the goal line the length of the ice.
- Check out all of the goals, great primary assists, super saves, and the Anania fight in this highlight package, plus the game recaps from both teams:
- Video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/greensboro-gargoyles-vs-allen-americans-apr-4-2026
- Allen Americans recap: https://allenamericans.com/news/2026/04/game-recap-americans-blank-greensboro-again
- Greensboro Gargoyles recap: https://gargoyleshockey.com/news/2026/04/americans-sweep-gargoyles-with-4-0-shutout-saturday
OTHER COMMENTS
- Danny Katic is quickly marching up the list of Allen's all-time leaders in goals in a single season, with his 35th last night. He has six games left to continue the march. Here are the all-time leaders:
- 49 goals - Hank Crone (2022-23)
- 44 goals - Gary Steffes (2024-15)
- 41 goals - Chad Costello (2014-15)
- 39 goals - Colton Hargrove (2022-23)
- 36 goals - Jack Combs (2022-23)
- 35 goals - Greger Hanson (2016-17)
- If you are still holding out hope that the Americans can catch Idaho for second place in the Mountain Division, here are the numbers. Kansas City beat Idaho again last night (4-3) after beating them 5-4 on Friday. Here are the magic numbers:
- Idaho
- 87 - points
- 4 - games remaining (1 at Utah, 3 at Tulsa)
- 95 - maximum points possible
- Allen
- 81 - points
- 6 - games remaining
- Wichita (H)
- Tahoe (H)
- Tahoe (H)
- Wichita (A)
- Wichita (A)
- Kansas City (H)
- 93 - maximum points possible
The first tiebreaker is regular-season wins, and Allen owns that tiebreaker 32-27. That means Idaho has to finish one point ahead of Allen to claim third place. If the Americans win their remaining six games, it would force Idaho to earn seven points in its last four games.
- If you are thinking about the chances Tahoe can catch Allen for third place in the division, that ship has sailed. With the Americans winning last night and Tahoe losing to Cincinnati, the Knight Monsters are mathematically eliminated from third place.
- Here are the points earned by each Mountain Division team over the last 10 games. The number in parentheses is the team's rank in the division standings. This list shows two things. First, 10 games is about three weeks. You can see how hard it is to gain ground. Allen is on a six-game winning streak and has gained two points on Idaho in 10 games. Second, it shows how some teams, like Tulsa, are playing much better than their division rank.
- Brett Mirwald's back-to-back shutouts were not the first for the Americans, but they were the first to take place at home. In franchise history, there have been four back-to-back shutouts, and ironically, two of them happened within a month in 2016.
- Riley Gill had back-to-back shutouts on November 29, 2016, in Tulsa and on the 30th in Kansas City. Definitely the best back-to-back shutout performance ever. The first game in Tulsa was a 1-0 overtime win; Greger Hanson scored the OT goal. The next night, after traveling to Kansas City, Gill beat the Mavericks 1-0, with Joel Chouinard scoring the only goal at 10:08 of the third period.
- A month after the Gill back-to-back shutouts, he combined with Jamie Murray to do it again. This time, both games were in Wichita. On December 28, 2016, Riley had a 42-save shutout in a 5-0 win. The next game (two nights later), Jamie Murray had a 27-save shutout in a 9-0 win.
- The last back-to-back shutouts took place on March 19 & 20, 2021. On the 19th, Justin Kapelmaster shutout Tulsa 3- 0 in Allen. The next night, he shutout the Oilers 5-0 in Tulsa.
DID YOU KNOW: How powerful is the Brabham cup curse? The curse is so powerful, it books your tee time before the playoffs start. First place comes with an early exit guarantee.
All we need to do is keep grinding and sure up the lines…we are a deep team compared to most and have scoring from all lines…defense needs to be the priority and that’s are biggest issue…playoffs will expose poor defensive teams in the later rounds…
ReplyDeleteBut most of all…stay injury free…this is not easy of course but it’s doesn’t mean “resting” guys either…in other words it’s a slippery slope. This is Marty’s job and I’m confident he will manage this very well…
We have finally established the “next man up” mentality over the past 3-4 weeks and that is my favorite thing about this year’s squad…they have each others back and that can create unstoppable momentum…
Mirwald was a complete pleasure to watch! He has foresight & what we need now that we have made the playoffs. Anything is possible after this weekend's show #RedRedRed!!
ReplyDeleteMarty has the team playing some amazing hockey. Chad has Greenville as a bottom five team in the league on pace for over 40 losses even with a ton of AHL talent. He was a great player and a nice guy, but it sure does seem silly now those commenting that he should have been the guy Myles hired over Marty.
ReplyDeleteThe proof is in the pudding. Hopefully one day Chad is a successful coach. I think we are all rooting for that. For now though, Marty is clearly the best coach in the league and Chad hasn't yet figured it out.
Martinson is the proven winner since San Diego. Quality person, superb coach. Winner everywhere he goes.
DeleteThose commenting on here for months pushing for Chad and Gens to return were obviously wrong, but it's prob because they are newer fans who didn't know enough about Marty at the time.
DeleteEvery Americans fan wants to see Chad be successful, but he's had a lot of chances with very talented teams and hasn't gotten the job done. Look at his roster this year. It is one of the best in the league and he for whatever reason can't get wins out of them. I wish he would come back to Allen as the Assitant to Marty and Reggy and learn from them for a few years.
Here we go again .... y'all should be focused on Allen and winning in the playoffs. Results speak for themselves folks...
DeleteI agree. I don't want to back up and talk about the last 3 years. Focus on this year. We know what we had. Good luck to those guys but I'm here for Allen THIS YEAR.
DeleteLFG Red!
DeleteThe ECHL screwed Mirwald, we should not be surprised.
ReplyDeleteMirwald was 0 goals, saving 58 SOG with a save percentage of 1.000 (perfect).
Vinnie Purpura of the Savannah Ghost Pirates is the Warrior Hockey ECHL Goaltender of the Week for March 30-April 5.
Purpura went 2-0-0 with one shutout, a 0.50 goals-against average and save percentage of .987 in two appearances last week
The 27-year-old stopped all 41 shots in a 1-0 win at Greenville on Tuesday and made 35 saves in a 2-1 victory at Atlanta on Saturday.
Maybe that is because Purpura faced more shots ? Too bad for Mirwald
DeleteLost cause.. mirwald is a rookie.. so that's the deciding factor.. question... Will register play D in the playoffs?;will we get Duarte back?
ReplyDeleteDuarte will be back. Reggie will not be playing in the playoffs, that ship has sailed.
Delete24 man roster will be announced for playoffs on or before April 20th.