Allen vs Kansas City Preview, Tonight's Lineup, Best of the Rest, Attendance as Percentage of Arena Capacity, 3rd Period Comebacks and More

 Anyway you slice it the Allen Americans will have their work cut out for them tonight as they take on the best team in the Mountain Division, the Kansas City Mavericks. The stats don't lie and they tell a pretty bleak story and it started from the beginning of the season and it has never stopped:In Allen's home opening weekend Kansas City shutout the Americans 4-0 and 9-0.Allen is 1-5-0-0 against Kansas City this season.Allen scores one goal per game less than KC (2.6 vs 3.6).Allen allows 1.6 goals more per game than KC (4.2 vs 2.6).Allen takes 5.5 shots fewer per game than KC (28.5 vs 34.0).Allen allows 12.9 more shots per game than KC (38.9 vs 26.0).Allen's home record is 6-12-4-0 with 5 of the six wins against Rapid City and Utah.Kansas City's road record is 18-6-0-2, 2nd best in the ECHL.Allen has lost three straight games while being outscored 21-5.Kansas City is 6-0-1-0 in its last seven games, allowing and average of 1.71 goals per game. - Positive news is very scant, but there is a little:Allen has beaten Kansas City one time all season, but it was the last time these teams played and the Americans won handily, It was an afternoon road game and a Brayden Watts pure hat trick led Allen to a 5-2 win. One of the Kansas City's two goals was scored with five seconds remaining in the game. Allen's home penalty kill percentage (80.5%) is better than Kansas City's road penalty kill percentage (77.2%).Allen's home power play percentage (18.2%) is better than Kansas City's road power play percentage (17.2%).Kansas City's best goalie, Victor Ostman, who is an NHL contracted goalie (Seattle) and has accounted for 18 of the Mavericks 28 wins was just recalled to the Kraken. I heard even though the NHL is shutdown during the 4-Nations tournament until February 22, each NHL team must have a minimum roster. Ostman is occupying one of the goalie slots even though there no games. Since the AHL is still playing, I assume this is a way of preventing NHL teams from sending a bunch of players to the AHL during the 4-Nations tournament. I also assume it is a big payday for Ostman, whose NHL salary is $775,000 versus his minor league salary of $82,500 according to the website Puckpedia. - How important will the first goal be tonight? Hard to overstate this stat. Kansas City and Allen are at different ends of the scoring first spectrum. The Americans have the worst record in the league when scoring first, 7-9-4-1 (.492). In contrast, Kansas City has the best record in the league when scoring first, 22-2-2-1 (.885). The conclusion you can draw from this stat is Allen won't necessarily win if it scores first, but Kansas City will almost certainly win if the Mavericks score first. FYI, the team that scored first has won all six games these teams have played this season.  - Playing with the lead is a big advantage for both of these teams. Allen is 5-2-3-1 when leading after the first period and 10-1-2-0 when leading after the second period. Kansas City is almost unbeatable when it has the lead. The Mavericks are 18-0-0-0 when leading after the first period and 20-1-2-0 when leading after the second period. If Allen gets behind tonight it will most likely mean defeat. - Special teams may play key role tonight. Kansas City leads the division in points percentage but also in penalty minutes. Against most teams Allen has taken more penalties and given up more power play opportunities than its opponent. Checkout how close these two teams are in penalty minute stats:Penalty minutes: 543 Allen, 608 Kansas CityMinor penalties: 199 for both teamsMajor penalties (5 minute): 17 Allen, 20 Kansas CityMisconduct (10 minute): 4 for both teamsMisconduct (game): 1 Allen, 6 Kansas City  Odds are both teams will get plenty of power play time tonight. It will be imperative the Americans win the special teams battle.  - Kansas City has nine NHL/AHL contracted players on its roster including six forwards. The six forwards are the Maverick's #1, #3, #4, #5, #6 and #7 goal scorers and the #1, #2, #4, #5, #7 and #9 point scorers.  Maybe as important as all of the contract players assigned to Kansas City the team has stayed healthy. As of yesterday the Mavericks don't have any players on the 3-day or 14-day injured reserve. -  In the six head to head matches between Allen and Kansas City the Americans have been outscored 29-11 and outshot 247-131. Allen has had three of its lowest shot totals of the season against the Mavericks (16, 18, 18) while allowing three of the highest shots totals of the season against Kansas City (51, 48, 45). Needless to say Allen will have to keep the shots close to stay in the game. - Brayden Watts is the Allen player to watch for tonight. He is the only Americans player with a point per game average against Kansas City (3G, 4A) in six games. Kansas City, on the other hand has seven players averaging a point a game against Allen. The leader in points is #44 Max Andreev (3G, 8A) and the leader in goals is #9 Cam Morrison (5G

vigna vigna
Mar 19, 2025 - 01:30
0 0

 

Anyway you slice it the Allen Americans will have their work cut out for them tonight as they take on the best team in the Mountain Division, the Kansas City Mavericks. The stats don't lie and they tell a pretty bleak story and it started from the beginning of the season and it has never stopped:

  • In Allen's home opening weekend Kansas City shutout the Americans 4-0 and 9-0.
  • Allen is 1-5-0-0 against Kansas City this season.
  • Allen scores one goal per game less than KC (2.6 vs 3.6).
  • Allen allows 1.6 goals more per game than KC (4.2 vs 2.6).
  • Allen takes 5.5 shots fewer per game than KC (28.5 vs 34.0).
  • Allen allows 12.9 more shots per game than KC (38.9 vs 26.0).
  • Allen's home record is 6-12-4-0 with 5 of the six wins against Rapid City and Utah.
  • Kansas City's road record is 18-6-0-2, 2nd best in the ECHL.
  • Allen has lost three straight games while being outscored 21-5.
  • Kansas City is 6-0-1-0 in its last seven games, allowing and average of 1.71 goals per game.

 

- Positive news is very scant, but there is a little:

  • Allen has beaten Kansas City one time all season, but it was the last time these teams played and the Americans won handily, It was an afternoon road game and a Brayden Watts pure hat trick led Allen to a 5-2 win. One of the Kansas City's two goals was scored with five seconds remaining in the game.
  •  Allen's home penalty kill percentage (80.5%) is better than Kansas City's road penalty kill percentage (77.2%).
  • Allen's home power play percentage (18.2%) is better than Kansas City's road power play percentage (17.2%).
  • Kansas City's best goalie, Victor Ostman, who is an NHL contracted goalie (Seattle) and has accounted for 18 of the Mavericks 28 wins was just recalled to the Kraken. I heard even though the NHL is shutdown during the 4-Nations tournament until February 22, each NHL team must have a minimum roster. Ostman is occupying one of the goalie slots even though there no games. Since the AHL is still playing, I assume this is a way of preventing NHL teams from sending a bunch of players to the AHL during the 4-Nations tournament. I also assume it is a big payday for Ostman, whose NHL salary is $775,000 versus his minor league salary of $82,500 according to the website Puckpedia.

 

- How important will the first goal be tonight? Hard to overstate this stat. Kansas City and Allen are at different ends of the scoring first spectrum. The Americans have the worst record in the league when scoring first, 7-9-4-1 (.492). In contrast, Kansas City has the best record in the league when scoring first, 22-2-2-1 (.885). The conclusion you can draw from this stat is Allen won't necessarily win if it scores first, but Kansas City will almost certainly win if the Mavericks score first. FYI, the team that scored first has won all six games these teams have played this season.

 

- Playing with the lead is a big advantage for both of these teams. Allen is 5-2-3-1 when leading after the first period and 10-1-2-0 when leading after the second period. Kansas City is almost unbeatable when it has the lead. The Mavericks are 18-0-0-0 when leading after the first period and 20-1-2-0 when leading after the second period. If Allen gets behind tonight it will most likely mean defeat.

 

- Special teams may play key role tonight. Kansas City leads the division in points percentage but also in penalty minutes. Against most teams Allen has taken more penalties and given up more power play opportunities than its opponent. Checkout how close these two teams are in penalty minute stats:

  • Penalty minutes: 543 Allen, 608 Kansas City
  • Minor penalties: 199 for both teams
  • Major penalties (5 minute): 17 Allen, 20 Kansas City
  • Misconduct (10 minute): 4 for both teams
  • Misconduct (game): 1 Allen, 6 Kansas City  

Odds are both teams will get plenty of power play time tonight. It will be imperative the Americans win the special teams battle. 

 

- Kansas City has nine NHL/AHL contracted players on its roster including six forwards. The six forwards are the Maverick's #1, #3, #4, #5, #6 and #7 goal scorers and the #1, #2, #4, #5, #7 and #9 point scorers.  Maybe as important as all of the contract players assigned to Kansas City the team has stayed healthy. As of yesterday the Mavericks don't have any players on the 3-day or 14-day injured reserve.

 

-  In the six head to head matches between Allen and Kansas City the Americans have been outscored 29-11 and outshot 247-131. Allen has had three of its lowest shot totals of the season against the Mavericks (16, 18, 18) while allowing three of the highest shots totals of the season against Kansas City (51, 48, 45). Needless to say Allen will have to keep the shots close to stay in the game.

 

- Brayden Watts is the Allen player to watch for tonight. He is the only Americans player with a point per game average against Kansas City (3G, 4A) in six games. Kansas City, on the other hand has seven players averaging a point a game against Allen. The leader in points is #44 Max Andreev (3G, 8A) and the leader in goals is #9 Cam Morrison (5G, 4A). 

 

- The game tonight will be a one referee game. #29 Logan Gruhl will work the game. He worked the two games these teams played in Allen at the end of December and called just five minor penalties in each game. 

 

LINEUP TONIGHT

Forwards
#92 Watts-#26 Asuchak-#Duarte
#16 Crnkovic-#89 Polino-#14 Guy
#25 Westcott-#17 Jacobs-#9 Isaacson
#11 Nault-#84 Gorman-#24 Blaisdell
 
Defensemen
#5 Wilson-#82 Fraser
#3 Powell-#23 Brassard
#21 Van Unen-#66 Kulakov
 
Goalies
#39 Wells 
#35 Thornton (backup)


 

OTHER COMMENTS   

- A bunch of loaned/contracted NHL/AHL players have been sent down to ECHL teams the last few days with the NHL shutdown. While NHL teams do have to keep a certain number of players on their rosters, they have some sent down to the AHL rich provides the trickle to the ECHL. I count 13 players sent to ECHL teams in the last two days. Rapid City got three players from Calgary and Kansas City got a defenseman (Charlie Wright). Wright will be in the Kansas City lineup tonight.

 

- In the race for the "Best of the Rest" the Utah Grizzlies had a 2-0 lead in Wichita last night well into the third period, but ended up losing in a shootout. Utah has a three game point streak (2-0-0-1) and Rapid City has a four game point streak (3-0-1-0). Allen has a three game losing streak (0-3-0-0). What makes it even more disappointing is Rapid City and Utah's streaks were on the road, while two of Allen's losses were at home. Here are the "Best of the Rest" standings with games this week in parenthesis:

  • .378 - Allen (4 home games vs Kansas City tonight, Worcester on Friday, Saturday, Sunday).
  • .413 - Utah (at home vs Idaho, Friday, Saturday, Monday)
  • .422 - Rapid City (at home vs Maine, Thursday, Friday, Saturday)

 

- Kansas City is the only team in the ECHL with eight wins in the last 10 games. Three teams have seven wins in the last 10 games. Here are the hottest teams in the league right now:

  • 8-1-1-0: Kansas City
  • 7-1-2-0: Toledo 
  • 7-2-0-1: Trois Riviéres
  • 7-3-0-0: Jacksonville 


- There is only one ECHL team in the top five in average goals scored and goals allowed. Maybe a surprise that team is the South Carolina Stingrays. They are #2 in average goals scored (3.75) and #3 in average goals allowed (2.50). The Stingrays have been under the radar to some of the more high profile teams, but have the #6 best point percentage (.670) in the league. South Carolina is in the tough South Division, so a deep playoff run will be a challenge, but don't count them out. 


- It is a light schedule around the ECHl tonight with just four games on the schedule:

  • Florida at Indy
  • Adirondack at Trois Riviéres
  • Cincinnati at Iowa
  • Kansas City at Allen

Here is the ECHL Today with the previews: https://echl.com/news/2025/02/echl-today-feb-12 


- Seven former ECHL players are taking part in the 4 Nations Faceoff. Here is the ECHL press release with the details: https://echl.com/news/2025/02/seven-former-echl-players-two-coaches-participating-in-4-nations-face-off 


- I posted this info on my ECHL Stats page yesterday so wanted to share it here if you haven't seen it. It is the average attendance as a percentage of arena capacity. It is always controversial when I compute these numbers. Fans/teams question the capacity numbers (I take the numbers from the ECHL website) and also question exactly what is included in the attendance figures. My take is these numbers are a decent indicator, especially the teams at the top. 

ECHL arena capacities range from 17096 (Tulsa) to 4200 (Tahoe). Here is each team’s average attendance as a percentage of arena capacity. Arena capacity is in parenthesis:
 
109% - Savannah (6876)
107% - Jacksonville (8500)
107% - Toledo (7431)
105% - Idaho (5006)
93% - Florida (7181)
93% - Adirondack (4794)
91% - Cincinnati (6955)
82% - Tahoe (4200)
78% - Maine (5527)
77% - Indy (7500)
76% - Kansas City (5800)
74% - Allen (6200)
74% - Fort Wayne (10500)
73% - Kalamazoo (5113)
72% - Orlando (9049)
68% - Worcester (5600)
67% - South Carolina (7250)
66% - Greenville (7044)
64% - Rapid City (5119)
59% - Trois Rivières (4390)
58% - Wheeling (4700)
53% - Norfolk (8468)
46% - Utah (10207)
44% - Tulsa (17096)
43% - Reading (7160)
41% - Atlanta (9119)
38% - Bloomington (7000)
33% - Iowa (4878)
26% - Wichita (13400)


DID YOU KNOW: The ECHL stats post today is about 3rd period comebacks. Allen did this recently but it is still a rarity. The Americans record when trailing after second period is 2-21-2-1:

 

ECHL 3rd period comebacks are rare. The combined ECHL record when trailing after the 2nd period is 60-417-42-9:
 
- Florida has the best record, 7-7-2-0 (.500) when trailing after the 2nd period:
 
- Five teams are winless when trailing after the 2nd period:
0-17-0-1: Kalamazoo
0-16-0-1: Indy
0-14-4-0: Cincinnati
0-13-1-1: Idaho
0-8-4-0: Toledo


Read More