Allen vs Wichita Preview, Coach’s Corner With Steve Martinson, ECHL Teams With Most 5+ Goal Games and More

Allen has played Wichita 10 times this season, more than any other team. The Americans still have to play the Thunder seven more times this season, more than any other team. Two of the seven remaining games are tonight in Wichita and Saturday night in Allen.

–  It has been an up and down season for Wichita driven by injuries and players being recalled/loaned to the AHL. The Thunder started the season with a record of 10-5-1-0 but after losing players lost 14 straight games and was mired in last place in the division. Wichita has a full lineup again and has a record of 7-0-2-0 over the last nine games. It is the longest point streak in the ECHL right now by a wide margin. No other team has a point streak longer than four games.

– While Wichita has a full line up, Allen has been decimated with injuries, callups and loans. Every time the Americans get a player back, someone else goes down with an injury. Here is a list of the players currently out of the lineup:

• Gavin Gould (out for the season, last played January 22)
• Tyler Poulsen (out 4-6 weeks, last played February 2)
• Andrew Jarvis (out since January 30)
• Branden Troock (out since January 29)
• D-Jay Jerome (out since January 16)
• Ben Owen (not on road trip but not injured)
• Chad Butcher (on road trip but out for the weekend)
• Ben Carroll (on road trip but doubtful)
• Zach Hall (on road trip but doubtful)
• Nolan Kneen (on loan to Charlotte, last played January 2)
• Antoine Bibeau (recalled to Charlotte, last played February 11)

–  Allen will get Darian Skeoch back tonight after he sat out the last two games on suspension.

– Wichita has a record of 7-1-2-0 over the last 10 games, Allen has a record of 6-3-1-0. Allen has the edge in the season series with Wichita, 6-4-0-0.

– Here is a comparison of the two teams based on the 10 head to head games this season:

• Goals – Wichita has more goals (35-32) which includes a 7-0 shutout on opening might.
• Shots – Wichita has the edge 311-296.
• Power Play: Allen 6-35 (17.1%), Wichita 8-35 (22.8%)
• PIMS: Allen 123 PIMS (47 infractions), Wichita 136 PIMS (49 infractions)

– Here is a comparison of overall stats:

• Goals per game – Allen scores more (3.3 vs 2.9)
• Goals allowed per game – Allen allows more goals (3.5 vs 3.3)
• Shots per game – Wichita shoots more (31.3 vs 28.4)
• Shots allowed per game – Wichita allows more shots (37.5 vs 34.8)
• Team shooting percentage: Allen 11.5%, Wichita 9.2%
• Team save percentage: Allen .900, Wichita .913

– As always, special teams will be key in the two games with Wichita. Allen’s power play is ranked #18 at 18.1% (32-177) and Wichita’s power play is ranked #17 at 18.5% (31-168). Penalty kill stats favor Wichita who is ranked #7 at 83.4% (30-181). Allen is ranked #16 at 80.6% (33-170). Both teams have scored seven shorthanded goals. Allen has allowed 16 shorthanded goals compared to seven by Wichita.

– None of the 10 games Allen and Wichita have played this season have gone to overtime. If one of the games does get to overtime it will pit two teams that have a combined record in overtimes of 3-12. Allen is 1-5 and Wichita is 2-7. If a game happens to get to a shootout, Wichita has the edge 3-0 vs 1-1.

–  More stat facts:

• Scoring first hasn’t been the magic bullet in this series. The team that scored first has won just six of the 10 games.

• What has been a good predictor of outcome is shots on goal. The team with the most shots has won nine of the 10 games.

COACH’S CORNER WITH STEVE MARTINSON“Our trip from Kansas City was slow going for the first couple hours but then the sun came out and snowplows were out, so things improved. It took us about two hours longer than normal to get to Wichita. We were lucky we had a day off between games.”“We probably set some records for time on ice when we played shorthanded on Wednesday in Kansas City. Kris Myllari led with 33:21, Eric Roy was on the ice 30:57 and Spencer Asuchak for 28:03. Time on ice in excess of 30 minutes is a lot. Playing 28 minutes in a regulation game, for a forward, is also lot of minutes.”“I expect we will have have three lines and five defensemen for the game tonight so we will be playing shorthanded again. I don’t expect Hall or Carroll will be in the lineup.”“Luke Peressini will get the start in goal.”“We have been getting good goaltending which is a credit to the goalies as well as the rest of the team working hard on defense. Caring is the most important trait in playing good defense.”

OTHER COMMENTS

– Here is the game preview from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/media/road-trip-heads-south-to-wichita/

– Allen has used five different goalies over the last 10 games and they have all played well. In seven of the 10 games the save percentages were above .935. In only two of the games was the save percentage below .900. If Allen can get that kind of goaltending going forward they will win a lot of games.

–  There are 12 games on tap in the ECHL tonight with several Mountain Division teams playing outside the division. Tulsa is at Cincinnati, Rapid City is at Norfolk and Utah entertains Worcester. Here is the ECHL Today with a preview of all 12 games tonight: https://www.echl.com/en/news/2022/2/echl-today-feb-18

DID YOU KNOW: ECHL teams with the most games scoring 5+ goals this season. Games with 5+ goals allowed is in parenthesis:

• 16 – Cincinnati (8)
• 15 – Toledo (6)
• 13 – Reading (5)
• 12 – Fort Wayne (8)
• 12 – Allen (11)
• 12 – Wheeling (12)

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