The Calgary Roughnecks scored seven fourth-quarter goals in a 17-11 win, giving the Buffalo Bandits their second loss of the season Saturday night at a sold-out KeyBank Center.
Twelve different Bandits players recorded a point in the loss, including Dhane Smith (2+2) scoring his 400th goal and Josh Byrne leading the team in points (2+3) in his 100th NLL game.
“Overall, the guys played well,” head coach John Tavares said. “We took the lead and then in the fourth quarter, they took over and we didn’t have an answer. We’ve been answering all year long. Eventually, it’s going to catch up to you. We have to make sure we play (a) full 60 (minutes).”
Defense was the name of the game in the first quarter, with both teams allowing two goals apiece and their goalkeepers making 10-plus saves.
Buffalo began the scoring 3:16 into the game when Kyle Buchanan went behind the back to Dhane Smith, who faked out familiar enemy and new Calgary goalkeeper Nick Rose. Ian MacKay piled on three minutes later, going coast to coast to give the Bandits a 2-0 lead.
You can’t catch Mickey! 💨#LetsGoBandits | @IanMacKay_94 pic.twitter.com/7l0M9A1Fcw
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) March 9, 2025
With less than three minutes remaining in the opening quarter, Calgary’s Tanner Cook scored back-to-back goals in a 1:25 span to tie the game at two.
Following the turn of the quarter, the Bandits again went back-to-back when Paul Dawson got the ball following an illegal push on Calgary and flung it full field to Byrne for the score. Tehoka Nanticoke followed Byrne’s goal three minutes later, toeing the crease and putting one over Rose’s shoulder.
After five minutes without a goal for either side, Cook scored again to bring the Roughnecks within one. Byrne answered less than a minute later, going airborne and soaring over the crease to score his second goal of the game.
The feed… the finish… ARE YOU KIDDING?!#LetsGoBandits | @Joshbyrne94 pic.twitter.com/1DzQs6JbI8
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) March 9, 2025
Calgary scored three straight goals following that to take a 6-5 lead.
Smith scored with 33 seconds left in the quarter to tie it back up, but Calgary matched that tally before the buzzer to take a 7-6 lead into the locker room.
Coming out of halftime, Buchanan went low-to-low to beat Rose and tie the game, but Calgary responded with back-to-back goals and went up by two.
However, eight seconds later, Buchanan went down the field off the faceoff and faked out Rose to score his second goal of the game. Two minutes after that, Nanticoke spun around a defender and went low-to-low to tie the game at nine.
Spin-o-rama! 😱#LetsGoBandits | @Tehoka1 pic.twitter.com/0RSXrV8Vy2
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) March 9, 2025
Calgary again scored in the final minute of the quarter to take a one-goal lead, going up 10-9 into the final quarter.
The Roughnecks carried their momentum into the beginning of the fourth quarter and scored 58 seconds in to make it 11-9.
Buffalo came back with a goal of its own to narrow Calgary’s lead back to one, but the Roughnecks answered with back-to-back goals to make it 13-10, giving them their biggest lead of the night.
The Bandits’ Clay Scanlan on the crease cut that lead back down to two with 9:27 left in the game, keeping Buffalo in the fight.
Following Scanlan’s goal, Calgary scored four consecutive goals to end the game, making it 17-11 when the final buzzer sounded.
Just like after Buffalo’s first loss against San Diego, the Bandits will get the chance for revenge when they head to Calgary next week for a rematch against the Roughnecks.
“Last home game we lost and then we had an opportunity to play them again,” Tavares said. “It’s nice to have the opportunity to play Calgary again in our next game because this game is fresh in our mind so hopefully that gives us a little extra motivation.”