The Buffalo Bandits are taking a trip down south to play the Georgia Swarm on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Gas South Arena.
The Bandits have already clinched the top seed in the NLL Playoffs, which will open in Banditland on Friday, April 25. Their Round 1 opponent will be determined with the results of this weekend’s contests, with seven teams (Calgary, Georgia, San Diego, Ottawa, Colorado, Albany, and Philadelphia) still vying for the last two berths.
Saturday’s game will be broadcast on CW23, while you can stream the game on ESPN+ or if you’re in Canada, on either TSN+ or the new NLL+ streaming platform. The game will be broadcast on the radio locally on 1520 AM.
Here’s everything you need to know before Buffalo’s regular season finale.
Last Time Out
The Bandits beat the Halifax Thunderbirds 15-12 on Saturday at KeyBank Center.
Following a defense-heavy first quarter, Josh Byrne and Ian MacKay scored back-to-back to give the Bandits a 2-0 lead. Halifax scored 24 seconds after MacKay to make the score 2-1 at the end of one.
Byrne scored his second of four goals in the game to begin the second quarter and Clay Scanlan piled on, giving the Bandits a three-goal lead, the largest either team would have until there was 3:42 left in the game. Halifax answered back with three consecutive goals to tie the game at four.
Buffalo and Halifax then began their back-and-forth attacking with neither team giving way to the other. The second and third quarters ended with the two teams tied at 6-6 and 10-10, respectively.
Following Halifax scoring to begin the final frame, the Bandits started to run away with the game. Buffalo outscored the Thunderbirds 4-1 in the last 10:57, including three consecutive goals from MacKay, Kyle Buchanan and Cam Wyers to seal the game and the regular-season title for the Bandits.
Record Watch
Going into the final week of the season, Dhane Smith, Josh Byrne and Paul Dawson all have the chance to etch themselves into the record books.
Smith is currently at 99 assists on the season, two away from tying his record of 101 set last season. Additionally, he’s eight points away from tying the record he set in 2016 (137).
Meanwhile, Josh Byrne has already surpassed his career-high in assists with 83 this season, tied for sixth all-time and two shy of moving into fifth. Byrne’s 126 points also have him within distance of breaking Smith’s record.
Paul Dawson has already broken a record and has been sitting at first in blocked shots in a season since he passed James Barclay’s blocked shot total of 29 from 2023. So far this season, Dawson has blocked everything in sight, blocking 50 shots, 21 more than the previous record.
Scouting the Swarm
In preparation for their first-round playoff game, the Bandits are facing a familiar opponent.
The Bandits defeated the Swarm in the first round of last year’s playoffs, winning 10-9 on an overtime goal from Byrne.
Buffalo is 10-7 all-time against the Swarm, but has gone 6-1 in the last seven matchups.