After two low-scoring losses in Kansas City (2-1 & 1-0), the Allen Americans finally found their offense last night, but their defense disappeared in a costly 7-4 loss that pushed the Americans to the brink of elimination.
- Allen stunned the home crowd just 26 seconds after the opening puck drop when Hank Crone carried the puck into the offensive zone, dropped a perfect pass to Colton Hargrove, who buried the puck from his favorite spot at the top of the circle.
- Allen had a chance to add to its lead midway through the first period on a four-minute power play, but the defensive woes that would plague the Americans throughout the game began. A minute into the power play, Kansas City scored a shorthanded goal to tie the score 1-1. Allen did not convert on the long power play, and the first period ended with the score tied 1-1.
- Allen started the second period on a carryover power play from the first period and scored 39 seconds into the period. Sam Sedley scored the goal from the blue line. It was Allen's first and only power play goal of the playoffs. The Americans are now 1-9 (11.1%) on the power play in the series. Sedley's goal at 0:39 started a flurry of goals. Kansas City tied the score at 2-2 at 1:41. Allen took a 3-2 lead just 26 seconds later, at 1:57, on a goal by Maxim Barbashev.
- Allen's 3-2 lead was not safe, as Kansas City added two goals 28 seconds apart later in the second period (10:53 & 11:51) to take a 4-3 lead, which was the score going into the second intermission. Allen trailed 4-3 after the second period, a dangerous position against a Kansas City team that entered the night 38-0-1-0 when leading after the second period (regular season and playoffs combined).
- Trailing 4-3 six minutes into the third period, Allen appeared to seize control after killing off a lengthy 5-on-3 disadvantage and tying the game 4-4 just 12 seconds after the penalties expired. Ty Prefontaine trailed a 2-on-1 Allen rush and put in a rebound. Momentum completely shifted to the Americans, and a comeback win seemed within reach. Instead, disaster struck again. Allen turned the puck over in their defensive zone, and Kansas City scored to take a 5-4 lead. The game-winning goal was scored exactly 30 seconds after the Prefontaine goal. The Mavericks scored two more goals, one on a breakaway and one into an empty net, to make the final score 7-4.
- Allen's margin for error has officially disappeared. Lose Saturday, and it is golf/fishing season!
- Here are the video highlights and the game recap from the Allen Americans:
- Video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/kansas-city-mavericks-vs-allen-americans-may-13-2026-game-3
- Game Recap: https://allenamericans.com/news/2026/05/game-recap-americans-on-the-brink-after-7-4-loss
COACH'S COMMENTS
As you know, Coach Martinson talks to season ticket holders after every game, win or lose. Two things were clear from his comments last night. It was the worst game of the series against Kansas City, with defensive mistakes that were off the charts. Second, if the players are as angry about the loss as the coach and as committed to keeping this series going as the coach, they will be fine on Saturday. Here are Martinson's comments last night:
"We didn't score enough goals to win this game. The back breaker was killing the 5-on-3 power play and scoring a goal right away, and then we passed the puck right to them in the slot, and they responded right away with the eventual game-winner."
"We gave up four breakaways, and they are a good team and made us pay. We haven't given up that many breakaways in a month, let alone in one game."
"It was a bad night to have a bad defensive game."
"Part of the problem with the power play that led to the shorthanded goal is that we forced the puck instead of putting it in deep. We have to move for each other. We were standing still instead of moving our feet, and that led to the turnover and shorthanded goal."
"We had plenty of power plays. Yes, I didn't like some of the calls and non-calls, but we didn't lose that game because of the officiating; we beat ourselves."
"We don't have everyone playing their best hockey right now, and this is the time of year you have to be playing well. We have some players we are counting on not scoring and not playing good defense. That is a bad recipe for winning."
"I am not going to bullshit anybody. If we play like that again in this series, the season is over."
"We have a great opportunity to have a great story, but it will take a lot better work effort than tonight."
"I thought we outplayed them in the two losses in Kansas City, but we didn't outplay them tonight. We need to get more guys in the fight. It was painful to watch that meltdown in the third period."
"We dug ourselves a hole, and we just have to get the first game. Then we have another game at home, and then we can get back to Kansas City, and they have to play in their practice rink. We just need to get the first one Saturday."
OTHER COMMENTS
- Florida beat South Carolina 7-3 last night to take a 3-0 lead in the series. They play game four tomorrow (Friday). Maine beat Wheeling 5-3 last night to take a 3-2 lead in that series. Games six and seven will be in Wheeling on Saturday and Monday. Toledo at Fort Wayne is the only game on the schedule tonight. Fort Wayne leads the series 2-0. These teams will play three games in the next three days. Here is the ECHL Today with all of the details: https://echl.com/news/2026/05/echl-today-may-14
- About a 2% chance to come all the ways back to win the series.
- 35% to 45% chance of winning game four
- 15% to 20% chance of forcing a game six
- 5% to 8% chance of forcing a game seven
- Five players still in the playoffs are averaging more than 1.35 points per game:
- 1.86 - Austin Magera, Fort Wayne
- 1.60 - Matthew Brown, Fort Wayne
- 1.43 - William Dufour, Fort Wayne
- 1.43 - Anthony Romano, Florida
- 1.38 - Danny Katic, Allen
- Of the eight teams remaining in the playoffs, two have power play percentages above 30%, and two have penalty kill percentages of 90% or more. Notice the same two teams are on both lists:
- Power Play Percentages
- 31.3% - Fort Wayne
- 30.4% - Florida
- Penalty Kill Percentages
- 94.7% - Florida
- 90.0% - Fort Wayne
So you’re saying there’s a chance?
ReplyDeleteNope
DeleteQuit being pessimistic!!!
Delete