Going into the game, head coach John Tavares said that the Buffalo Bandits needed to win the small battles get a victory on Friday against the Ottawa Black Bears.
Eighteen goals, 46 shots, 64 loose balls and 37 saves later, the Bandits had dominated the Black Bears in every fashion, winning 18-7 at Canadian Tire Centre.
Ian MacKay scored a career-high five goals in the win while Josh Byrne, Dhane Smith and Chase Fraser dished out the ball efficiently, recording eight, seven, and five assists, respectively.
Byrne and Smith both scored a pair of goals and reached significant milestones in their careers with Byrne notching his 500th NLL point and Smith recording his 1100th NLL point.
And he’s just getting started!
Congratulations, @Joshbyrne94! 👏 pic.twitter.com/X1fLKA9Xr4
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) December 14, 2024
Ottawa and Jacob Dunbar struck first with a sidearm shot that went over Matt Vinc’s left shoulder, but Buffalo scored to tie the game four minutes later and didn’t relinquish control of the lead the rest of the game.
Streaking off the bench, Chris Cloutier put himself in a perfect position for Smith to find him, taking the pass and getting right on top of the crease to score. Three minutes later, MacKay won the groundball battle behind the Ottawa net and Superman’d from X to beat Zach Higgins sliding across the crease to give Buffalo the lead.
Mickey, this was TOOOOO smooth! 🔥#LetsGoBandits | @IanMacKay_94 pic.twitter.com/zUVc8sbnlm
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) December 14, 2024
Byrne scored the Bandits’ first power-play goal of the year on a bounce shot to extend the Buffalo lead to 3-1. Then, in the final seconds of the first quarter, Smith passed it across the offensive zone to MacKay for a fourth straight Buffalo goal.
The Black Bears and Bandits traded jabs in the first 10 minutes of the second quarter, both teams scoring twice to make it 6-3, including MacKay recording his third goal of the game to give him a first-half hat-trick.
Following that, Buffalo went on a scoring frenzy, scoring three straight goals to close out the first half and take a six-goal lead into the locker room.
Fraser scored the team’s second power-play goal of the game with Smith assisting on the goal to give him his fifth assist of the night. A minute and a half later, Smith scored his first goal of the game.
Hesitating in the middle of the offensive zone, Smith decided to rip it, whipping the ball past Higgins.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Smith said on the TSN broadcast immediately following the goal.
Then, for good measure, Nick Weiss went coast-to-coast taking a ball off the glass and scoring.
MacKay (3+0), Weiss (1+2), Byrne (1+3) and Smith (1+5) all recorded three points in the first half while Vinc saved 18 of 21 shots.
Buffalo continued to punish the Black Bears, scoring 1:16 into the quarter with Smith splitting the double team and finding Kyle Buchanan for the goal to give the Ottawa native his first of the game in his hometown.
Following an Ottawa goal to make it 10-4, MacKay scored back-to-back goals for his fourth and fifth of the night, setting a career-high in goals and getting his second Superman goal of the game, diving from the left side of X.
Ottawa scored back-to-back goals for the first time on Friday to cut down the Buffalo at the end of the third quarter, giving the Bandits a 12-6 lead going into the fourth.
They added another goal 1:13 into the fourth quarter to make the lead 12-7 but were dominated by Buffalo the rest of the game.
The Bandits scored four straight goals in 3:18 from four different scorers to take a nine-goal lead, with Byrne having a hand in all four.
To cap the game off, Smith and Tehoka Nanticoke scored two power-play goals, giving the Bandits an 11-goal lead, their biggest of the game, and one that would hold for the final 1:43.
Another day, another DUB. 😤#LetsGoBandits | @Vno48 pic.twitter.com/7RiW32sO0C
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) December 14, 2024