The Tahoe Knight Monsters took on the Florida Everblades on Friday. Puck drop was at 7:30 PM. The game was at the Tahoe Blue Event Center in Stateline, Nevada. It was the fifty-fourth game of the season. The Tahoe Knight Monsters were coming off of a 6-2 victory over the Florida Everblades. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had a record of 30-19-4. The Knight Monsters were in 13th place in the ECHL. The Knight Monsters were 7th in the Western Conference and 4th in the Mountain Division. The Allen Americans played fifty-two games. The Americans were coming off of a 1-2 loss to the Kansas City Mavericks. They were on a ten game losing streak. The Americans had a record of 13-30-9. The Americans were in last place in the ECHL. The Americans were in last place in the ECHL Western Conference which is last. The Americans were in last place in the ECHL Western Conference Mountain Division. The all-time record between the Tahoe Knight Monsters and the Allen Americans was 2-0-0 going into this game.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters played one more game. The Knight Monsters had seventeen more wins. The Knight Monsters had the better points percentage. The Knight Monsters had scored sixty-two more goals. The Allen Americans had allowed forty more goals. The Knight Monsters had the better goal differential. The Knight Monsters had twenty-nine more points. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had 478 penalty minutes. The Americans had 649 penalty minutes. Would the Knight Monsters win at home? Would the Americans break their losing streak?
#1 Jesper Vikman got the start in net for the Tahoe Knight Monsters. It was his 32nd game played this season. On Monday, goaltender Jordan Papirny was assigned to the Tahoe Knight Monsters by the Henderson Silver Knights. Emergency backup goaltender Joshua Welte was released by the Knight Monsters. On Friday, forward Simon Pinard was activated by the Knight Monsters. Forward Adam Robbins was placed on reserve by the Knight Monsters. #39 Dylan Wells got the start in net for the Allen Americans. It was his 18th game played this season. On Monday, the Allen Americans released goaltender Garrett Johnson. Goaltender Dylan Wells was assigned to the Americans by the Tucson Roadrunners. On Tuesday, the Allen Americans traded forward Brayden Guy to the Cincinnati Cyclones in exchange for forward Noah Kane. On Friday, forward Harrison Blaisdell and forward Jared Wescott were activated from reserve by the Americans. Defender Jay Powell and forward Noah Kane were placed on reserve by the Americans.
Prior to the game starting, a couple of Allen Americans players shot pucks into the Tahoe Knight Monsters net before heading off the ice. That is extremely disrespectful and they should not do that. If any of the Tahoe Knight Monsters players were on the ice it would have started a fight. I think players should get unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for shooting the puck into the other teams net during warm ups.
Four minutes into the game #9 Nick Isaacson of the Americans hit one of the Knight Monsters players behind the Knight Monsters net away from the play. No penalty was called. With under two minutes to play in the first period, Mike Van Unen of the Americans received a penalty for hooking. Neither team scored in the first period. The score was tied at 0-0 after the first period.
Five minutes into the second period, the Allen Americans took the lead. The goal was scored by #25 Jared Westcott. His goal was unassisted. The goal did go under review but would stand.
Ten minutes into the second period, Anthony Collins of the Tahoe Knight Monsters received a penalty for hooking. Just after the powerplay, the Americans scored to gain a two goal lead. # Quinn Warmuth scored the goal. His goal was assisted by #16 Kyle Crnkovic.
With under six minutes left in the second period, the Knight Monsters would get on the board. #13 Simon Pinard scored the goal. His goal was assisted by #21 Sloan Stanick and #26 Nate Kallen. This brought the lead down to one goal.
With under five minutes left in the second period, Brennan Kapcheck of the Knight Monsters received a penalty for cross-checking. With under two minutes left in the period, one of the Knight Monsters players crashed the net resulting in him wiping out the Americans goalie. The goalie was slow to get up. The play would be blown dead. There was a scrum after the play but no fights. There were no penalties on the play. The score was 2-1 Allen Americans heading into the third period.
Seven minutes into the third period, Artyom Kulakov of the Allen Americans received a penalty for slashing. The Tahoe Knight Monsters tied the game with a quick goal on the powerplay. The goal was scored off of the first faceoff of the powerplay. #24 Isaac Johnson scored the goal. His goal was assisted by #13 Simon Pinard.
With under three minutes left in the game, Brayden Watts of the Americans received a penalty for boarding. With under a minute left in the game, Bear Hughes of the Knight Monsters received a penalty for tripping. The score would remain tied at 2-2. The game would go into overtime.
The Allen Americans started overtime on the powerplay. Two minutes into overtime, #20 Slava Demin scored to win the game for the Tahoe Knight Monsters. The game winning goal was assisted by #24 Isaac Johnson.
The final score was 3-2 Tahoe Knight Monsters.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters out skated the Allen Americans in the first period. They just could not find the back of the net. The Americans took the lead in the second period after a bad turnover by the Knight Monsters. The Americans were able to take a two goal lead after building up some momentum on the powerplay. The Knight Monsters got one back before the end of the second period. The Knight Monsters sent the game into overtime with a powerplay goal. The Knight Monsters found a way to kill off their penalty. The momentum from that turned into the play that created the game winning goal. I was expecting more from the Knight Monsters. As one of the top offensive teams in the ECHL, they should have been able to do more offensively. The Knight Monsters have now won back to back games and are now only one win away from being on a winning streak. The Allen Americans have now lost eleven games in a row.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters had nine more shots. The Tahoe Knight Monsters had the better shot percentage. Both teams had six penalty minutes. #1 Jesper Vikman saved 25 shots for a 93% save percentage again. #39 Dylan Wells saved 33 shots for a 92% save percentage.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters have a record of 31-19-4 with 66 points in 54 games. The Knight Monsters are now in 12th place in ECHL. They are now in 6th place in the ECHL Western Conference. They are now in 3rd place in the ECHL Western Conference Mountain Division. They are in a playoff spot. They are five points into a playoff spot. They have the fourth highest points percentage in the division. The Knight Monsters are thirteen points away from the top spot in the ECHL. The Knight Monsters are nine points away from the top spot in the ECHL Western Conference.The Knight Monsters are nine points away from the top spot in the ECHL Western Conference Mountain Division.
The Tahoe Knight Monsters take on the Allen Americans for game fifty-five on Saturday, March 1st. It will be a home game. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM. This will be a divisional game. It will be the second of three games at home against the Americans. It will also be the first night of retro weekend.
Zac Electrifly 
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