Buffalo Bandits head coach John Tavares had one simple message that he repeated following Game 2 of the NLL Finals – minimize the mistakes.

Leading 9-8 four minutes into the fourth quarter, the Bandits had the momentum, needing just 11 more minutes of solid lacrosse to bring home a third consecutive championship. Then, things began to unravel.

An illegal cross-checking penalty on Josh Byrne gave the Saskatchewan Rush a man-up opportunity to tie the game and take back the momentum playing in front of their home crowd. The Rush took advantage at the 6:06 mark, scoring to make it 9-9. They scored again a minute later to make it 10-9. Finally, with 3:08 left in the game, the dagger came with Saskatchewan scoring to make it 11-9, a lead the Bandits wouldn’t overcome.

When the buzzer sounded on Sunday night, the scoreboard at SaskTel Centre read 11-10, sending the series to a decisive Game 3 on May 24 in Buffalo.

• Tickets for Game 3 will go on sale Monday, May 19 at 10 a.m.

“I thought that our team battled hard,” Tavares said. “We worked hard for 60 minutes, but I thought we had way too many unforced errors. I thought they outworked us on ground balls, we turned the ball over way too many times and I thought we had some undisciplined penalties, so we need to clean that up.”

Buffalo lost the ground ball battle 72-60 and turned the ball over 23 times, giving Saskatchewan second chances to score and gain extra possessions, factors that ultimately gave the Rush the upper hand.

Buffalo also gave Saskatchewan three power-play opportunities with all three penalties being charged to offensive players, taking away productive possessions for the Bandits. Saskatchewan capitalized on these opportunities, going 2-for-3 on the power play.

Not making mistakes and committing unnecessary penalties, according to Tavares, simply comes down to staying controlled when you’re in the offensive end, among other things he’d like to see fixed before Game 3.

“It’s just committing to being disciplined and not taking penalties in the offensive end,” Tavares said. “When you have the opportunity to pick the ball, you have to pick the ball up. It’s just a matter of picking it up and fighting for it, right? So, how do you prepare for that? You do some loose ball drills, I guess, but these are professional lacrosse players, we have to be better. The skill set needs to be better.”

Saskatchewan scored three consecutive goals across eight minutes to open the game with a 3-0 lead.

“I’d like to get off to a better start,” Tavares said. “First game we were down 2-0, tonight we went down 3-0, so I think a better start would certainly help our squad.”

With 3:40 left in the opening quarter, Dhane Smith drove past his man straight to the goal front and scored, whittling the lead down to two. In the second quarter, the Bandits built upon Smith’s goal with back-to-back goals from Ian MacKay and Smith to tie the game at three.

Stay hot, Dhaner! 🔥#LetsGoBandits | @dhanesmith92 pic.twitter.com/lO0bQrTJPI

— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) May 19, 2025

The Rush broke up the Buffalo scoring run, using the man advantage from a Josh Byrne illegal cross-checking penalty to take back the lead. They built upon the power-play goal, scoring another to take a two-goal lead before the Bandits once again came back with force.

After a Kyle Buchanan goal was called back for a crease violation, Clay Scanlan and Byrne connected with a one-two pass that led to Scanlan toeing the crease to score. MacKay scored his second goal to tie the game. Scanlan doubled his goal total after a quick sequence of passes left him wide open on the crease, giving the Bandits their first lead of the game.

Ian MacKay = weapon. 😤#LetsGoBandits | @NLL pic.twitter.com/aDQMVxOW9v

— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) May 19, 2025

Saskatchewan scored with less than a second left in the first half to send the two teams into the break tied 6-6.

Chase Fraser notched the first goal of the second half in highlight fashion, going behind his back and putting a bounce shot past Rush goalie Frank Scigliano to take the lead back.

CHASE FRASER YOU’RE INSANE!! 🤯#LetsGoBandits | @NLL pic.twitter.com/cEjHkvL3L4

— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) May 19, 2025

The two teams went back-and-forth, scoring two goals each with Fraser capping off the quarter with a goal that included him pulling a swim move over his defender and getting Scigliano 1-on-1. With Fraser’s goal, much like Game 1 of the NLL Finals, the Bandits took a one-goal lead into the final period at 9-8.

Saskatchewan scored three consecutive goals to take an 11-9 lead with 3:08 left in the game. Buchanan scored with 1:05 left in the game to narrow the lead to one but Buffalo was unable to score another to send the game to overtime.

“When we’re on a run, it’s not a good thing to take an undisciplined penalty. That stops our run and starts one for them, that’s the main thing,” Tavares said. “I thought our defense settled in and held them at bay for the most part and they were very opportunistic on ground balls and putting the ball in the back of the net off turnovers.”

Game 3 of the NLL Finals will take place on Saturday in Banditland at 4:30 p.m., in what Tavares said is a game that is the “hardest one to win.”

“The last game is the hardest one to win and we need to watch a lot of video this week and guys need to get rested and understand that they need to dig down,” Tavares said. “Every play matters. Every penalty that you take, every loose ball that you miss matters. We have to regroup and it’s a new game next week.”

Back to Banditland for Game 3. pic.twitter.com/GX3VEmECBF

— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) May 19, 2025