ALLEN, Texas – The Allen Americans jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, as they defeated the Fort Wayne Komets 5-2 in front of an announced crowd of 2,216 at the Allen Event Center in game one of their best-of-five ECHL Western Conference playoff series on Friday night.
The Americans struck three times within five minutes and found themselves with a 3-0 lead mid-way through the opening frame. Corey Mackin scored twice and added an assist to lead Allen offensively, while C.J. Motte picked up the win, stopping stopping 24-shots for his second win of the post-season.
Josh Lammon scored first, on an assist from Samuel Laberge 6:35 into the game. Scott Conway doubled the lead just 46-seconds later, scoring on assists from Mackin and Matt Register. Mackin netted his first of the night at 11:46, with assists going to Chad Butcher and Terrance Amorosa.
The Komets made things interesting, adding two first period goals of their own five minutes apart to pull within one late in the period. Stephen Harper assisted on goals by Randy Gazzola at 12:18 and Justin Vaive at 17:16.
Mackin added his second of the night just over a minute later, scoring a power play goal at 18:35 of the first. The Americans would go on to take a 4-2 advantage into the first intermission.
Spencer Asuchak chipped in the final goal of the night at 1:52 of the second, on an assist from Amorosa to make it 5-2.
Allen outshot Fort Wayne 42-26 on the night, while they went 1-for-6 on the power play. Fort Wayne was 0-for-4 on the man advantage in a contest that saw 56 combined penalty minutes, including 38-minutes in a chippy final period.
The two squads face off again Saturday night in Allen for game two, the puck drops at 7:05pm Central. The series then shifts to Fort Wayne for game three on Monday night.
Contact the writer: John.Hall@prohockeynews.com
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