The Buffalo Bandits (6-6) will host the Toronto Rock (11-2) on Saturday at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is set for 7:00 p.m. for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration in Banditland.
TV coverage can be found on ESPN+ while radio coverage can be found on WWKB 1520.
The Bandits get to play at home once again after an overtime thriller last week against the Saskatchewan Rush. Tehoka Nanticoke scored the game winner five minutes into overtime to break the 14th tie of the game – an NLL record – and secure a 15-14 win over the Rush.
The Rush couldn’t find any momentum because of two key Bandits. Connor Farrell shut down the faceoff dot in his NLL debut, winning 27-of-33 faceoffs to prevent Saskatchewan from going on runs. Goaltender Matt Vinc returned from injury and made six overtime saves as he sealed off the Buffalo net for the win.
“It’s definitely a special environment anytime you’re playing in Banditland especially when you’ve had to miss a couple games in a row,” Vinc said. “In overtime, you can just feel the sense of excitement and a little bit of the stress in the fans themselves, but ultimately when Tehoka scores and the place starts going crazy, that’s why you play the game.”
The focus now turns to the league-leading Rock, who is the only team in the NLL to reach 11 wins so far this season. The Rock have averaged 9.50 goals against per game this season as their defense and goalie Nick Rose have propelled them to their success so far.
Despite those defensive statistics, the rivalry of Toronto and Buffalo makes blood boil and games get out of hand. In the last meeting between the two teams on Jan. 27, the Bandits scored 16 goals to post a 16-14 win in Toronto.
“Obviously this is a rivalry going way back but I also think in recent history we’ve met in the playoffs pretty much every year for the last three years and they always become heated battles,” Byrne said. “We’re two great teams going head-to-head which usually ends up in a pretty damn good lacrosse game.”
Here’s more ahead of the matchup.
St. Patrick’s Day celebration
The Bandits will sport green, specialty jerseys for St. Patrick’s Day, which will be up for auction after the game. A limited quantity of mini jerseys will be also be for sale on the floor level concourse.
Paul Dawson acquisition
Buffalo made one final acquisition before the trade deadline to add a veteran presence in the defensive end. Paul Dawson is in his 17th NLL season and won two championships with Vinc in Rochester, playing six seasons with him before the Rochester Knighthawks moved to Halifax. They also play summer lacrosse together.
“He’s a guy that I think would know my game maybe the most out of any person in the league, so we’re very familiar with each other and he knows what I like to see on the floor,” Vinc said. “He’s also a great player in the locker room and I think that’s a thing we kind of need especially with some of our D guys going down.”
Dawson stands at 6-foot-5, bringing another big presence to the defensive end. In his time in the league, he’s established himself as a force to be reckoned with. He is currently fifth all-time in the NLL for penalty minutes.
“You have a guy like that that’s pretty much been in every situation possible,” Byrne said. “He’s a massive presence back there. I never liked to play against him so I’m definitely pretty happy that he’s on our side now.
“And it’s another guy who’s older and has that calming presence that you can lean on a little bit to stay composed during those big moments. It’s definitely something that I think we need and we’re extremely excited to get him.”
Bandits on SportsCenter
Chris Cloutier scored a hat trick like no other last Friday against the Rush. He put one behind his back and he hit an outside shot off the goalie’s stick into the net.
His most impressive though was when he bounced off multiple defenders before going between his legs with one hand to score. Everyone noticed that goal, even outside the lacrosse world. It was the #1 play on SportsCenter for that night and Saturday morning.
“It just seems like a lot of the time when our guys have chances, they have so many different tricks and so many different ways to score,” Vinc said. “It’s great to see the goal go in but I think for a lot of people that aren’t necessarily familiar with lacrosse, to be able to see what type of atmosphere it is, especially in Buffalo.”
Scouting the Rock
The Bandits handed the Rock their first loss of the season during their matchup in January as Buffalo used a seven-goal run in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.
Since that game, the Rock have gone 6-1 with their only loss coming against the Calgary Roughnecks.
Byrne knows the Toronto defense is a tough group to crack.
“We just have to limit them getting easy ones in transition or easy lapses that we can avoid,” Byrne said. “Make sure to play a full 60 minutes as well as continue to move the ball on offense and at the end of the day it’s whoever’s gonna battle harder is gonna win this one.”
Last time the teams played, Toronto faceoff specialist TD Ierlan was on IR and Buffalo capitalized. This time around he is back in the lineup and riding high off a 20-for-24 outing in Colorado. With Farrell, the Bandits have a chance to create even possessions at the dot and halt or gain momentum throughout the game.
The Rock offense has been finding their identity as the season has gone on. Mark Matthews leads the team in points with 73. His 52 assists rank third in the NLL tied with Byrne. Tom Schreiber returned from injury after their first five games and has led the team in points per game with six since then.
“They have some of the best passers in Mark Matthews and Tom Schreiber and they have a lot of good goal scorers with Corey Small and a lot of other key contributors,” Vinc said. “It seems like one of their good players could be out of the lineup and another guy steps in. They have an offense that kind of matches ours and it’s gonna be a tough test for us on the defensive end.”