Allen Rebounds, Game Recap, Video Highlights, Costello Comments, Tonight’s Lineup, ECHL Overtime Stats, All Time 30+ Goal Scorers and More

It was “White Out Night” at the CUTX Event Center last night and the Allen Americans became the white knights on the ice. The Americans ended their three-game home losing streak with a decisive 5-2 win over the Florida Everblades before a big Friday night crowd of 5499.

– Florida got the jump on Allen scoring the first goal just 90 seconds after the opening puck drop and visions of another poor start came to mind. After all, Allen was outscored 8-2 in the first period in the previous three home games. It was not to be last night as the Americans responded less than three minutes later when Hank Crone took a pass from Colton Hargrove and buried the puck. The period ended with the score tied 1-1 but Florida outshot Allen 15-7 and it took goalie Luke Peressini to save the day on several occasions.

– The second period belonged to Allen. The Americans outshot the Everblades 18-10 and scored the only two goals of the period to take a 3-1 lead into the second intermission. Mikael Robidoux and Jack Combs were the goal scorers. A 3-1 lead was a good sign when you consider Allen’s record with a second period lead is 16-3-1-0 and Florida’s record when trailing after the second period is 2-11-1-0.

– The third period started with Florida scoring at 42 seconds after the puck drop to cut the score to 3-2. However, just like in the first period the Americans responded quickly. Just 93 seconds after the Everblades scored, Chad Butcher restored Allen’s two goal cushion. Allen controlled the rest of the period, added a goal from Jack Combs to make the final score 5-2. Allen outshot Florida 17-6 in the third period and over the final two periods had a 35-16 shot advantage. It was great to see the outstanding goaltending, the offense clicking and a commitment to defensive that is a hallmark of success for the Americans.

– Luke Peressini had a great game in goal for Allen stopping 29 of 31 shots for a save percentage of .935. Luke had several highlight reel saves in the game.

– Goal scorers for Allen were Hank Crone (26), Mikael Robidoux (5), Jack Combs (27,28) and Chad Butcher (5). Liam Finlay and Kris Myllari had two assists. Colton Hargrove had an assist to extend his point streak to 23 games.  Here are the video highlights:  https://www.echl.com/en/video/2023/2/florida-everblades-vs-allen-americans—feb-17-2023-95DOPjqP

– Game recaps from both teams:

Allen Americans: https://allenamericans.com/media/game-recap/americans-strong-second-and-third-leads-to-5-2-win/

Florida Everblades: https://www.floridaeverblades.com/en/news/everblades-falter-against-americans

CHAD COSTELLO COACH’S COMMENTS

“I thought we started a little slow tonight but once we got going and hit that button it was on. We took over the game against a very good Florida team.”

“I challenged the guys very hard yesterday; I said I just want to see if we are good. We lost the series to Fort Wayne. Florida and Fort Wayne are two very good teams, they are playoff teams for sure. So, I wanted to find out how good we are, and the guys responded tonight. I think we are pretty good.”

“Lots of guys contributed tonight, our penalty kill was incredible despite giving up that one goal.”

The quote of the night, “I didn’t yell at the refs all night, that was good. The ref came by the bench a few times and I told him I am going to speak very kindly tonight.”

“I have to learn to keep my cool as a coach. It is harder to do than I thought because you are not playing so every bad call you sit there and soak in it for a while and then you rip off your coat and get kicked out. But I think I am an internet sensation now.”

“Tonight, was a fun night. I am really proud of how the guys responded. Peressini played great and made some big saves when we needed them. When we get good goaltending, and our offense is clicking we are hard to beat.”

“I challenged our defensemen to clear out the net so Peressini could see more pucks and they responded. If Peressini can see the puck he stops it. We also talked about mentally being engaged in the defensive zone. We have a lot of offensive players and sometimes these players are so concentrated on offense when they get to the defensive zone, they think it is time to take a break. I know a player who used to do it all the time.” (Chad pointing at himself)

“Aidan Brown is day to day and close to returning to the lineup.”

– Allen now has an opportunity to win the series with Florida if the Americans can beat the Everblades again tonight. Coach Costello set a goal of winning 2 of 3 games every week some time ago. With the exception of Fort Wayne last week when Allen was 1-2, the Americans have met the goal in every series since the beginning of December. Winning two of three against the reigning Kelly Cup champs would be another big step for Allen.

– What distinguished Allen’s play last night was a return to a high compete level and more of a commitment to team defense up and down the lineup. If the Americans can repeat that script tonight and get the goaltending, they got from Luke Peressini last night they will win the series. After his performance last night, look for Peressini to get the start again tonight.

TONIGHT’S LINEUP

• Crone-Hargrove-McAuley
• Combs-Butcher-Finlay
• Gould-Hebert-Robidoux
• Bethune              Young
• Myllari-Saucerman
• Skelly-Massicotte
• Gally-Gagnon
• Peressini
• Perry (backup)

OTHER COMMENTS

– The “Four Sure Gang” all had points again last night. Here is the latest on their stats:

• Jack Combs – Jack had two goals and an assist and now is #1 in the league in goals (28), #2 in points (64) and has a 1.33 points per game average.
• Colton Hargrove – Colton had an assist last night to extend his point streak to 23 games, the longest point streak since the 2008-09 season. He is #2 in the league in goals (27) and has scored 23 of his 27 goals in the last 22 games. His overall points per game average is 1.21. However, his goals per game average since the end of December is a ridiculous 1.05.
• Hank Crone – Hank had a goal last night. He is #1 in the league in points (65) and leads the rookie scoring race by nine points. He is #3 in the ECHL in goals (26) and #3 in assists (39). Hank’s points per game average is 1.44.
• Liam Finlay – Liam had two assists last night and is #3 in rookie scoring (50 points). He is #7 in the ECHL in goals (23) and #11 points. His points per game average is 1.35.

– The Allen Americans win last night combined with Rapid City’s 6-0 home loss to Toledo moved the Americans into sole possession of fourth place in the Mountain Division. Here are the standings by points percentage with games remaining in parenthesis:

• .802 – Idaho (24 games)
• .571 – Wichita (23 games)
• .543 – Kansas City (26 games)
• .490 – Allen (24 games)
• .469 – Rapid City (24 games)
• .468 – Utah (25 games)
• .435 – Tulsa (26 games)

– Thanks to Joe Ernst, Senior VP of ECHL Hockey Operations, I received some stats on ECHL overtimes since the league went from five minute to seven-minute overtimes. Here are the stats by season. 2018-19 was the last season of five-minute overtimes. The rest of the years are seven-minute overtimes but remember 2019-20 was the Covid shortened season and in 2020-21 there were only 14 teams playing:

• 2018-19
• 20.6% of games (200) went to overtime
• 61.0% (122) were decided in overtime
• 39.0% (78) went to a shootout

• 2019-20
• 20.3% of games (162) went to overtime
• 77.8% (126) were decided in overtime (25 longer than 5:00)
• 22.2% (36) went to a shootout

• 2020-21
• 24.9% of games (121) went to overtime
• 73.6% (89) were decided in overtime (17 longer than 5:00)
• 26.4% (32) went to a shootout

• 2021-22
• 17.6% of games (170) went to overtime
• 73.5% (125) were decided in overtime (29 longer than 5:00)
• 26.5% (45) went to a shootout

• 2022-23 (thru February 12)
• 19.3% of games (124) went to overtime
• 83.1% (103) were decided in overtime (22 longer than 5:00)
• 16.9% (21) went to a shootout

It is very clear extending overtime by two minutes has had a significant impact on the number of games being decided by shootouts. The last year (2018-19) of five minute overtimes 39% of overtime games went to a shootout. About 66% of the 2022-23 season is complete and only 17% of overtime games have gone to a shootout. If you buy into the premise 60 minute hockey games should not be decided by a shootout which is an individual competition, the NHL, which still has a five minute overtime, should adopt to the ECHL rule.

– There are 13 games on the ECHL schedule tonight with six of seven Mountain division teams in action. In addition to Florida at Allen, Tulsa is at Wichita, Idaho is at Kansas City and Toledo is at Rapid City. Utah is idle. Here is the ECHL Today with the previews: https://www.echl.com/en/news/2023/2/echl-today-feb-18

DID YOU KNOW: Allen will end up with four 30 goals scorers this season and could have two or three 40 goals scorers. How does that compare to prior Allen players. Here is the list of 30+ goals scorers in franchise history. The 2022-23 team will be all over this list by the end of the season.

• 44 goals – Gary Steffes (2014-15)
• 41 goals – Chad Costello (2014-15)
• 35 goals – Greger Hanson (2016-17)
• 34 goals – Bruce Graham (2010-11)
• 34 goals – Nino Musitello (2010-11)
• 34 goals – Zach Pochiro (2018-19)
• 33 goals – Chad Costello (2016-17)
• 33 goals – Colton Yellow Horn (2010-11)
• 31 goals – Bruce Graham (2009-10)
• 30 goals – Corey Mackin (2020-21)

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