Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne fueled the Buffalo Bandits to an early lead, but the Halifax Thunderbirds swung momentum with a goalie change and went on to win 14-12 at Scotiabank Centre on Friday.
The Bandits led 7-2 before Thunderbirds goaltender Warren Hill headed for the bench during the second quarter. Halifax rallied around backup Drew Hutchison and outscored Buffalo 12-5 the rest of the way.
Smith and Byrne led the Bandits in scoring with two goals each and a combined 13 assists. Kyle Buchanan had a team-high three goals. Matt Vinc made 38 saves in net.
Clarke Petterson (2+8) and Austin Shanks (2+7) led the Thunderbirds with nine points each while Ryan Benesch had a game-high five goals. Hill made 14 saves in 20:40 before being relieved by Hutchison, who notched 20 saves in 38:42.
Halifax faceoff specialist Jake Withers totaled 30 loose ball recoveries, the second-most ever in an NLL game.
Just like the last two games before the bye, Buffalo came out with a hot start. The Bandits looked in control as forwards caused multiple turnovers on Halifax defensemen and kept the ball in the early minutes of the game. Chris Cloutier sent a shot from the top of the key into the bottom right corner to open the scoring 3:01 into the contest.
Benesch answered quickly for Halifax, but the Bandits took it in stride as they scored the next three goals. Smith, Fraser, and Buchanan all got in on the fun as they picked corners around Hill. Byrne made the final pass on each of the three Bandits goals. That momentum continued in the second quarter with Fraser finishing his second goal, quick sticking a feed from Byrne near the crease.
The energy changed when Hutchison came in net. It wasn’t that Hutchison made more saves; it was the Halifax defenders stepping up their game. The Bandits had 21 shots on goal in the first 20 minutes of the game, Halifax held them to 25 in the last 40.
The Thunderbirds offense started to find some momentum thanks to a 5-on-3 power play in the second quarter, which saw Shanks score to cut the Bandits’ lead to 8-3. That ignited a run of three straight Halifax goals to close the half.
Halifax outscored the Bandits 4-1 during the third quarter, leaving the teams tied 9-9 entering the fourth.
Byrne scored to give Buffalo one final lead during the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but the Thunderbirds outscored the Bandits 5-2 the rest of the way. Aaron Woods scored what would stand as the game-winning goal to break a 12-12 tie with 4:28 remaining.
Milestones
Ian MacKay totaled 14 loose ball recoveries against Halifax, his highest mark since Feb. 2020. That total puts him at exactly 500 in his career.
Smith didn’t reach another milestone, but he is continuing his pace to potentially break his assist record of 96 which he set last year. So far this year Smith leads all players with 50 assists through nine games. At his current pace, he would hit 100 assists this season.
Next time out
The Bandits will return to KeyBank Center next weekend for a rematch with the Albany Firewolves. The Bandits lost 17-13 in their Week 1 road matchup with the FireWolves, who are now 6-2.