The Curse of Saturday Night, Big Crowd (5966), Special Jersey (Wizzard Night) is alive and well. The Allen Americans lost 4-2 to the Kansas City Mavericks last night. The loss was very similar to Friday night’s loss to the Mavericks.
– Here were the keys to the game from yesterday’s blog. Let’s see how the Americans fared:
– Tonight’s Preview: During the post-match press conference, Martinson mentioned at least six times the need to create more speed. Look for players who show more speed on the outside and drive to the net. FAILURE. Here are a few other keys to the game:
- Unless you’re bringing a Maverick, stay out of the penalty area. The power plays were 6-2 last night. You can’t expect to win against a talented team like Kansas City, giving up so many power plays and getting so few. FAIL – Allen gave up seven power plays last night. To their credit, the Americans killed them all (one goal was because a penalty had expired), but they spent far too much time killing power plays and not generating offense.
- The Americans need to make a better start. Giving up the first goal and falling behind after the first period is the death knell against the Mavericks. WRONG – Just like Friday night, Allen gave up the first goal of the game and trailed (2-0) after the first period. Since the start of last season, Kansas City’s record as the first-period leader now stands at 34-1-1-0 (3-0-0-0 this season).
- Put pucks on the net, think about big goals instead of nice goals. Kansas City won more games when it defeated its opponent last season (38) than any team in the league. A 38-27 shot difference like last night won’t be enough to get the job done. WRONG – the shot differential increased to 42-21 last night. Allen was outshot in all three periods (13-7, 14-5, 15-9)
- Finally, prove that the curse on the special jersey on Saturday night, the general public, means nothing this season, 2025-2026. WRONG – It wasn’t as bad as losing to Saturday Night Wizard last year (7-2), but the curse remains. Allen’s Saturday night record wearing special jerseys since the start of 2023-24 is now 3-13 (.188).
– Just like Friday night, Allen was still in the game in the third period despite being out of bounds and outplayed. The Americans cut the score to 2-1 after Matt Register’s shot from the point with just over five minutes remaining, but could not get the equalizer. Kansas City scored two goals with an empty net to make the final score 4-1. The totals for the weekend:
- Allen was defeated 8-3
- Allen was defeated 80-48
- Allen took more penalties, 14-7
- Allen never directed the series.
- Allen was not even until the score was 0-0.
– I made a point of talking to a lot of people before, during and after the game, from knowledgeable fans to media and people working in the hockey industry, and the feedback was consistent. Here is a summary of the comments I heard:
- Allen must stay out of the penalty area.
- Allen needs to put more pucks on net, they’re trying to be too cute.
- Allen needs more traffic for the net.
- Allen couldn’t match Kansas City’s speed.
- Allen didn’t even score on their “A” chances.
- Allen’s passes were not sharp and too often deviated.
The consensus from my conversations was that the results this weekend are frustrating, but nothing to worry about. Kansas City is one of the best teams in the league, and the Americans are doing well; it’ll just take a while for it all to come together.
– Here’s the Allen game recap and video highlights:
Game Summary: https://allenamericans.com/news/2025/10/americans-offense-struggles-in-4-1-loss-to-kc
Video highlights: https://echl.com/videos/kansas-city-mavericks-vs-allen-americans-oct-25-2025
– Next up for the Americans is a visit from Rapid City on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The Rush record is 2-2, including a 5-2 road win in Kansas City and a home win against Wichita. Last time I checked, Rapid City had 10 contracted NHL/AHL players committed. I’ll do a series preview on Wednesday.
COACH’S NOTES
“It was more of the same last night. We actually had more puck possession than them when we were at even strength. If we don’t score, we can’t spend almost 25% of the game in the box like we did last night.”
“We get beat in confrontations, which has always been a strength in the past.”
“One of the reasons why the passes aren’t good is that we try to make passes too hard. Too often players don’t support the puck by getting into places where they can take the pass.”
“What I told the players before the game was that we’re not going to outscore or outplay Kansas City. If we match their skating and work ethic, we’ll be fine because we have more players with a history of scoring. But that doesn’t mean anything if we’re not ready to compete.”
“The bottom line is that we don’t have everyone ready to physically compete at the level necessary to be successful.”
“We have some guys with speed who pull up at the blue line instead of driving. We’re working on that in practice.”
“How can we play better? By supporting the puck, making better decisions, getting the puck in and more mid-speed. Everyone is not on the same page yet, we will get there, but we have a game on Wednesday.”
OTHER NOTES
– Of all the players on the Allen roster, the name I hear most often mispronounced is one of the shortest names. It has only four vowels and two “N’s”, which seems simple, but it is not. I’m talking about defender Andre Anania. Here’s a video where you can hear the correct pronunciation several times and learn a little about Andre from his junior career in the OHL (Sudbury):
– After a bad start (0-3-1-0), Belleville has won two games in a row, beating Laval (6-2) and defeating Toronto 4-2 last night. This afternoon they play against Toronto again. The Senators are ranked sixth in the seven-team Northern Division. Danny Katic, who was recalled from Allen 10 days ago, has not played a game.
– The Mountain Division is starting to show some distance from top to bottom. Kansas City is in a familiar spot at the top of the rankings. Here are the current point percentages:
- .750 – Kansas City
- .667 – Wichita
- .600 – Idaho
- .500 – Utah
- .500 – Tahoe
- .500 – Fast City
- .333 – Tulsa
- .333 – All
– I know a lot of you are trying to keep up with Chad Costello in Greenville. It was a rough start for the Swamp Rabbits. They are 1-4-0-0 and rank No. 29 in ECHL points percentage at .200. FYI, the 30th team is Indy at .167. Like Coach Martinson in Allen, Chad has a good team and it will take some time to get everything in order, as a new coach, in a new division and with a new team.
DID YOU KNOW: Here is my ECHL Stats post from this morning:
Some wow stats at the start of the season:
– Atlanta (4-0) is the only undefeated team.
– Average ECHL attendance is 5198.
– 9 goalies have save percentages above .950.
– Toledo has scored 3 shorthanded goals in 3 games, all on the road.
– Reading scores an average of 5.25 goals per match.
-Iowa had a 51 shot game.
– Savannah scored 9 goals against South Carolina.
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