The Allen Americans are at home tonight, facing the reality every playoff team hopes to avoid: a must-win game three against the top team in the league. Historically, teams falling behind 3-0 in best-of-seven series rarely survive. Everyone in the CUTX Event Center understands tonight isn't technically an elimination game, but emotionally and practically, it feels very close.
- Despite trailing the series 2-0, Allen can point to just how razor-thin the losses in Kansas City really were. The Americans lost 2-1 and 1-0 in two games dominated by defense, great goalie play, special teams, and missed opportunities.
- Allen entered the playoffs with the highest scoring offense in the league, but Kansas City's structured defensive game has slowed the Americans to a crawl. Still, the scoring drought cannot be blamed entirely on the Mavericks' defense. Allen has struggled to generate second chances, generate traffic around the net, and produce on the power play. Allen was 0-for-4 in Kansas City while the Mavericks capitalized on two of eight opportunities.
- To make tonight's challenge even tougher, Kansas City got another player assigned by Coachella Valley. Forward Jakov Novak is familiar to Allen fans. He played briefly for the Americans in 2022-23 after he finished his collegiate career. He had 12 points (7G, 5A) in 14 games for Allen. Last season, he won the Kelly Cup with Trois Riviéres. This season, he has spent most of the time in the AHL with Coachella Valley, playing in 37 games, tallying 12 points (5G, 7A).
- Allen has lost one of its top players, Mark Duarte, for tonight, and he is doubtful for the weekend. With Duarte out and Coach Martinson looking for an offensive spark, you can see the forward lines are shuffled tonight, hoping to reignite some lines that have a history of carrying the team in the past. Here is the lineup:
- Here are the combined stats after the first two games of this series:
- Goals - Allen 1, Kansas City 3
- Shots - Allen 52, Kansas City 56
- Power Play - Allen 0-4, Kansas City 2-8
- PIMS - Allen 15 penalties 78 minutes, Kansas City 10 penalties for 60 minutes
- Scored First - Allen 0, Kansas City 2
- Save Percentage - Allen .946, Kansas City .981
- Keys to the game:
- Allen has to score the first goal. They haven't done it in the last five playoff games. So far in the division finals (10 games), the team that scored first has won them all.
- Allen has to win the special teams battle. The Americans have taken some costly penalties that have led to critical goals in the two losses. Kansas City has had twice as many power plays as Allen. The Americans need to stay out of the penalty box and score a power play goal tonight.
- Allen has been trying a lot of east-west passing coming through the neutral zone with lots of turnovers. Going more north-south and getting the puck behind the defensemen if there isn't a play to be made could jump-start the offense.
- Here is another take on keys to the game from Maurice Fitzgerald, Americans' broadcast color analyst:
"Copy and paste the first period of game one against Idaho, when the Americans came out hitting everything that moved and played that physical, uptempo, Steve Martinson brand of hockey that has gotten the team to this point. If they do this, they can disrupt Kansas City's gameplay, which then opens up Allen's offensive creativity and allows the Americans to dictate the flow of the game."
"Go at the net hard all night long. Make it uncomfortable for the netminder when the play is regularly in the paint. We saw in the first two games how plays down in the paint were the difference makers. If Allen can keep up the pressure down low, it can open things up top for the points to rip more shots."
"Mind the retaliation in the after-the-whistle scrums. Recognize that the referees are, more often than not, going to ignore the initial infraction and call the retaliation. Allen needs to not take the bait and stay focused on the play within the whistles."
OTHER COMMENTS
- The Division Finals are moving right along. Three of the #1 seeds (Florida, Kansas City, Fort Wayne) have 2-0 leads and will play three more games by Sunday. These three teams could advance to the Conference Finals by Sunday. The fourth #1 seed, Wheeling, is tied 2-2 with Maine. The final three games of that series are tonight, Sunday, and Monday.
- There are three games on the schedule tonight. Kansas City at Allen, Wheeling at Maine, and Florida at South Carolina. Here is the ECHL Today with the previews: https://echl.com/news/2026/05/echl-today-may-13
- Despite the Allen scoring drought, several Americans players are still on the ECHL leaderboard:
- Danny Katic
- #1 goals (6)
- #2 PP goals (3)
- #3 points (13)
- #3 PP points (5)
- #3 Shooting% (40.0%)
- Brayden Watts
- #1 PP Assist (4)
- #6 points (9)
- Jackson Parsons
- #3 Save % (.963)
- #4 GAA (1.11)
- Here are the number of veterans on the rosters of the eight teams remaining in the playoffs:
- 4 veterans - Allen, Florida, Fort Wayne
- 3 veterans - Maine
- 2 veterans - Kansas City
- 1 veteran - South Carolina, Toledo, Wheeling
- Kansas City is the only team remaining in the playoffs that still has playoff-eligible players in the AHL. The other seven teams are at their maximum 25-player rosters.
Parsons is the one bright spot so far in this series. Glad to see he is getting the start again
ReplyDeleteWhy is Duarte out?
ReplyDeleteQuinn Warmuth???
ReplyDeleteOut of favor…..
DeleteCrone back in off reserves. Duarte placed on reserves. He took a nasty puck trying to defend the goal last game! Probably needs time to recover....
ReplyDelete