Allen vs Utah Preview, Allen's Starts Since Joining ECHL, Time to Put Riley Gill in HOF, ECHL Players Leading Team in Points and Plus/Minus

It is game day for the Allen Americans as they take on the Utah Grizzlies tonight (7:10 pm) in the second of a three game series. After playing their best game of the season on Wednesday in the Americans 3-1 win over the Grizzlies, Allen will try and improve on its recent success of winning three of its last four games.  - The game tonight will be the fourth of nine times these teams will face each other in the regular season. After game five tomorrow night Allen will not play Utah again for four months (March 16) Welcome to the ECHL schedule where Allen will play Utah five times in the first 24 days of the season and then goes four months before playing the Grizzlies again.  - Allen is 2-1 in the first three games against Utah, losing 5-1 and then winning 6-4 and 3-1. Each team has scored 10 goals, but Utah has the shot advantage (111-85) despite the Americans outshooting the Grizzlies 37-27 on Wednesday. Allen is 3-10 (30%) on the power play while Utah is 2-14 (14.3%). Based on the head to head games the Americans match up very well against Utah.  - One thing that has helped Allen is good starts. The Americans gave up the first goal of the game the first three games of the season, but since then have scored first in six of seven games including all three games against Utah. The Americans have scored first in all three of their wins this season and lost all four games when they gave up the first goal. That first goal will be key tonight.  - How important is playing with the lead for these teams. Neither team has won a game when trailing after the first period (combine record of 0-8-0-0) or the second period (combined record of 0-8-0-0). The key for both teams is not playing from behind. - Allen won the special teams battle on Wednesday by capitalizing on Utah's #29 ranked penalty kill (61.1%). Allen was 1-3 on the power play, but also stayed out of the penalty box, holding Utah scoreless in three power play opportunities. The Americans penalty kill hasn't been great, ranked #23 at 77.5%, but it is 16.4% better than Utah.  - Here are some stats I don't typically include but they show the differences and similarities between Allen and Utah. Here is each team's roster by category:NHL/AHL contracted players: Allen (4) - Utah (5)Veterans: Allen (2) - Utah (1)Rookies: Allen (10) - Utah (16)14-day IR: Allen (2) - Utah (2)     - The keys to the game are the same as for the win on Wednesday:Get off to a good start by scoring the first goal.Limit the neutral zone turnovers, if there isn't a play to be made, dump the puck.Win the 50-50 battles. Win the special teams battle and take advantage of Utah's penalty kill.Keep the shots close.Continue the excellent goaltending. In the last three games Wells and Thornton have combined for a .950 save percentage, stopping 113 of 119 shots. - It will be a two referee game tonight so players will have to watch the stuff that goes on behind the play when there is only one referee. The referees will be #42 Ryan Siegel and #23 Marc-Olivier Phaneuf.  OTHER COMMENTS- There has been a lot of discussion about how the Americans started this season compared to past seasons. So I dug into the files to get the Americans record after nine games for each season since joining the ECHL. How the season finished is in parenthesis:3-5-1-0: 2024-25 (?????)3-6-0-0: 2023-24 (lost in first round)4-4-1-0: 2022-23 (lost in second round)2-5-2-0: 2021-22 (lost in first round)6-3-0-0: 2020-21 (lost in second round)7-2-0-0: 2019-20 (playoffs cancelled)3-5-0-1: 2018-19 (missed playoffs)4-3-2-0: 2017-18 (lost in first round)4-5-0-0: 2016-17 (lost in second round)6-3-0-0: 2015-16 (won Kelly Cup)6-3-0-0: 2014-15 (won Kelly Cup)- The ECHL announced its 2025 Hall of Fame inductees this week and one of them was a goalie. Dave Gagnon, who played in the league from 1990 to 2001, had a stellar career earning two championships with Hampton Roads (1991) and Toledo (1994) and was named Playoff MVP both times.. By my count there are now seven goalies in the ECHL Hall of Fame. A fan asked me how do Riley Gill's stats compare to the other goalies in the Hall of Fame and I have to say very favorably. Riley's career was cut short because of injury so he doesn't have some of the longevity regular season stats as others, but when it comes to playoffs, Riley is at the top of the list. Only one goalie in the Hall of Fame has more championships than the three Gill won. Nick Vittucci, who the ECHL Goalie of the Year Award is named after, has five championship rings, four as a player. Here are some of Riley's all-time career stats.Regular Season#2 - Most 30 win seasons (2)#3 - Career shutouts (21)#8 - Career wins (147)Playoffs#1 - Playoff wins (53)#1 - Playoff games (90)#2 - Playoff minutes (5095)Other AccomplishmentsKelly Cup Champion - 2013, 2015, 2016Kelly Cup MVP - 2013ECHL Best Save Percentage (.935) - 2016-17ECHL Goaltender of the Year - 2017ECHL 1st All-Star Team - 2017 There is no set criteria for selection to the Hall of