Allen Wins in OT, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Steve Martinson’s Comments, Mountain Division Playoffs and Record-Breaking Season Likely

The Allen Americans defeated the Kansas City Mavericks last night in overtime by a score of 3-2 before a Wednesday night crowd of 2632 at the CUTX Event Center. It didn’t start out well as Kansas City out shot Allen 14-5 in the first period, thanks to what seemed like a never-ending number of turnovers by the Americans. Kansas City scored first but Allen did what it has done a lot recently, answer back quickly. Josh Winquist scored the first of his three goals 56 seconds after the Mavericks took a 1-0 lead. Kansas City had no answer for Winquist who had all three of Allen’s goals on just three shots on goal.

– The game was tied 1-1 after the first period and 2-2 after the second period. Allen took at 2-1 lead at the 5:22 mark of the second period on Winquist’s second goal, but Kansas City tied the game at the 12:32 mark.

– There was no scoring in the third period though Allen had the shot advantage 11-5. Overtime has not been kind to Allen, its record prior to last night was 1-7, however the Americans only overtime win was against the Mavericks. It was fitting the game winning goal went to Josh Winquist, just 1:56 into the overtime period, to complete his hat trick. It was Josh’s first hat trick since December of 2017 when he was playing for Orlando.

– Here are the video highlights:

– Game recap from the Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/media/amercans-win-overtime-thriller/

COACH’S CORNER WITH STEVE MARTINSON

“I was disappointed in the first period. With what is at stake and after our trip to Toledo, I expected a much stronger start than we had. We had way too many turnovers in the first period.”

“Luke Peressini has been our best player for most of March and kept us in the game in the first period. It was good we got the equalizer right after they scored that first goal.”

“We had a good push the first half of the second period and missed some great opportunities in addition to Winquist’s second goal.

“I decided to start the overtime with two defenseman (Beaulieu & Myllari) and one forward (Asuchak) to stop Kansas City’s top group because we haven’t been good defensively in overtimes.

“It was a great give and go play between Winquist and Lohin for the overtime game winner.

“We will leave this afternoon for Kansas City and will have to play better defensively if we are going to win on the road. ”

“Most of the stats were close to even last night (faceoffs, hits, puck possession, offensive zone puck possession), but they had twice as many blocked shots as we did. Our forwards last night as a group were not a good shot blocking group.”

“With two road games on Friday and Saturday, we will take two extra players on the trip.”

“The trade deadline is this afternoon (2:00 pm CDT) and I can’t say one way or another if I will make a trade.”

OTHER COMMENTS

– Allen’s record in the month of March was 8-3-1-0 which is a points percentage of .708. With the win last night the Americans points percentage has climbed to .532. and it solidified its slim margin on fourth place in the division. Tulsa was idle and Idaho lost to Florida. Here are the current points percentages for the three teams vying for the final two playoff spots.

• .546 – Idaho
• .532 – Allen
• .523 – Tulsa

– Rapid City played on the road in Utah last night and beat the Grizzlies 4-3. The win vaulted the Rush into first place in the Mountain Division with as points percentage of .594, dropping Utah to second place at .592. The teams play again on Friday and Saturday. I think you have to go back to 2009-10 in the CHL days to find the last time Rapid City was in first place this late in the season. Of course, that was the season Rapid City beat Allen in the finals to win the CHL championship.

– Another fallout of the Utah loss last night, every Mountain Division team now has a points percentage below .600. Here is the current points percentage for the top team in each ECHL division. Anything can happen in the playoffs, but right now it doesn’t look good for the Mountain Division.

• .702 – Toledo (Central)
• .672 – Reading (North)
• .656 – Atlanta (South)
• .594 – Rapid City (Mountain)

– The last time an ECHL team won the division with a points percentage below .600 was in 2015-16, when Colorado won the West Division with a points percentage of .597. It should be noted in 2015-16 there were six divisions in the ECHL compared to just four today.

– The trade Steve Martinson made for Josh Winquist at the end of February for future considerations has been key in Allen’s play in March. When Josh arrived in Allen he was just coming back from an injury he suffered in a fight. With his hat trick last night, Winquist has scored 12 goals in the last 11 games. If you noticed last night he was also wearing an “A”.   Here are the team leaders in goals and plus/minus for the month of March.

• GOALS
• 12 – Josh Winquist
• 7 – Spencer Asuchak
• 5 – J.C. Campagna
• 5 – Branden Troock

• PLUS/MINUS
• +8: Josh Winquist
• +7: Jake Kearley
• +5: Jared Bethune
• +4: Jackson Leppard

– DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL Stats page today is about a player that will likely lead the ECHL in points and plus/minus this season. In 2014-15, Chad Costello came close to doing both. Chad won the scoring title by a record 45 points (125 to 85) and finished 3rd in plus/minus at +43.

The 2021-22 ECHL season is shaping up to be very special for Will Graber, who plays for Fort Wayne. Graber has played every position except goalie for the Komets this season (he played defense in college) and is on the verge of making ECHL history. He leads the league in points (77) and plus/minus (+39). With less than 10 games remaining in the regular season, Graber has a lead of seven points in the scoring race and his lead in plus/minus is +12. Graber is the favorite to win this trifecta of post season awards, which would be a first:– CCM Most Valuable Player Award– Leading Scorer Award– AMI Graphics Plus Performer of the Year Award

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