Allen bounces back to earn first franchise playoff win
ALLEN, Texas – The Allen Americans played a physical game to beat Laredo 3-2 and earn their first franchise playoff win. The Conference Semifinals series of the 2010 Ray Miron President’s Cup Playoffs is tied 1-1.
Laredo jumped out to an early lead after Todd Griffith backhanded a shot into the cage less than three minutes into the game. The Americans had the score tied up at 10:10, but the referee waived off the goal due to an interference penalty by Allen’s captain, Jarret Lukin. The Americans fought off four Laredo power plays in the first period and Allen had the extra-man advantage twice. There were 16 combined penalty minutes in the opening frame, which is the same amount that was called in last night’s contest. Allen went into the first intermission down 1-0.
The Americans came out strong in the second period, scoring three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead. Just 1:16 into the frame, Colton Yellow Horn made the Bucks pay after they could not clear the traffic in front of the net. Yellow Horn’s tally was his first career playoff goal. Then, forward Nino Musitelli skated into the Bucks’ zone and went top shelf to give Allen its first lead of the night four minutes later. The goal was Musitelli’s first career playoff goal as well. With 7:38 remaining in the middle frame, Musitelli poked a rebound around Buck Pier-Olivier Pelletier’s pad on the power play to give Allen a two-goal cushion.
Laredo staged a comeback in the third but could not find the firepower to get past Chris Whitley more than once. Ryan Lehr brought Laredo within one at 5:48. The Bucks put on the extra attacker with 1:12 remaining in the game as the crowd rose to their feet cheering on its home team. The final score was 3-2.
Whitley recorded his first career playoff win, stopping 30 shots this evening. Pelletier made 21 saves.
The teams combined for 64 penalty minutes, and Allen stopped all nine Laredo power plays.
Allen continues its best-of-seven series in Laredo March 30, April 1 and April 3. If the series is forced to six games, Allen will host Laredo April 6 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available by calling 972-912-1000.
The box score is available on Pointstreak.com.
Photo by Amy Gutierrez.
