The Buffalo Bandits (7-6) will head south on Friday as they take on the Panther City Lacrosse Club (6-7) in Fort Worth, Texas. Faceoff is set for 8:00 p.m. on CW23 and ESPN+ with radio coverage available on WWKB 1520.

The Bandits are coming off two home wins in the last two weeks, after a 15-14 win over Saskatchewan on March 8 and a 14-12 victory over Toronto last Saturday.

Ian MacKay and company found themselves down 9-6 at halftime against the Rock, but a fourth-quarter comeback secured the victory as the Bandits scored four unanswered goals in the final eight minutes of the game. Josh Byrne scored the game winner with 3:32 to go and Nick Weiss tacked on a late empty-net goal to seal it.

“I think we had good energy in the locker room,” MacKay said. “Being down three goals, it could’ve been pretty negative. We went in and were really positive.”

Buffalo now turns its focus to Panther City, who sit three spots below the Bandits in the standings. The only teams that separate the two are Georgia and Rochester.

Forward Chris Cloutier said the main goal right now is to keep the focus on one game at a time and collect wins to clinch the playoffs.

“You want to go one step at a time – you don’t want to look too far in advance,” he said. “So, first goal is to make playoffs, then the second goal is to get home games in the playoffs. We’re going to approach it in that order and hopefully we can stack up some wins so that both fall into place.”

The Bandits open a three-game road trip in Panther City before visiting Philadelphia and Colorado in the next two weeks.

Here’s more before the game.

Smith & Byrne’s best yet

Byrne and Dhane Smith have been on fire this year as their point totals place them among the best in the NLL. Byrne has recorded 94 points (37+57) in 13 games, which ranks second in the league behind New York’s Jeff Teat, who has played one more game than the Bandits have so far this season. Smith currently sits at third in the NLL in points with 90 (18+72) in 2023-24.

“To see what they do behind the scenes, it’s no surprise they’re as successful as they are,” MacKay said. “When we go shoot, we’re there for probably two and a half hours, if not longer. … To see it actually come to fruition in games and see it front row, it’s pretty cool.”

Byrne needs six points to reach 100 on the season, which would mark the first time in his career to accomplish the feat.

As for Smith, he could hit a century mark of his own. Smith set the NLL assist record with 94 assists in 2022 and then broke it in 2023 with 96. He is now on pace to break it again with 72 assists in 13 games this season.

The Vno Mindset

In the last two weeks, goaltender Matt Vinc has posted 95 saves and averaged 12.43 goals against per game after missing the previous two games due to injury. In the win over Toronto last week, Vinc made a save from behind his own net that shocked everyone in Banditland and came in at No. 2 in the NLL’s Plays of the Week.

How… just how? 🤯#LetsGoBandits | @Vno48 pic.twitter.com/NC6S6ylOoT

— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) March 18, 2024

“…When you have the best goaltender of all time in net, it’s hard not to have confidence in the fact that the defense is gonna get stops and Matt’s gonna come up with some massive saves down the stretch,” Cloutier said. “We’re able to go play every shift with confidence knowing that our defense is gonna get it done and we can kind of do what we do.”

Scouting Panther City

Panther City is 1-3 since March 1 after sustaining losses to San Diego, Rochester, and Halifax and recording an overtime win over the Philadelphia Wings.

The offensive end is what has brought Panther City success in their last two seasons. They had a winning record by their second year in the league and much of that was thanks to a combination of the young and the old on offense.

Callum Crawford brings points and a veteran presence to the forward group. The 39-year-old currently leads the team in goals with 31 and ranks second in points with 67.

On the younger end, 24-year-old Will Malcom and 26-year-old Jonathan Donville round out the team’s leading scorers. Malcom leads his team in both points (75) and assists (48). Donville is the only other player over 60 points for Panther City with 22 goals and 39 assists this season.

MacKay knows the offense of Panther City can be dangerous.

“…Callum’s a very talented player. He’s been in the league a while and he seems to get better with age and he’s still flying through the air and crease diving and jumping like crazy,” he said.

Playoff race ramps up

With five weeks remaining in the regular season and a new unified standings format, the playoff race is getting close in 2024. The Bandits currently sit behind Toronto, San Diego, Albany, and Halifax. Buffalo can only control their own games to get to the playoffs, but many other games may impact their chances.

Three games this week – outside of the Bandits game – could have an impact on the playoff picture. After the Bandits game Friday, Calgary will host Albany. The Firewolves have been on a downward skid after losing their last two games at the hands of the Rochester Knighthawks. Albany would be one game and a tiebreaker ahead of the Bandits with a loss to Calgary.

On Saturday, two heavyweights will matchup as Toronto hosts Halifax. Toronto has already clinched their playoff berth, but a Thunderbirds loss could help the Bandits. A Buffalo win and a Halifax loss this weekend would allow the Bandits to move up in the standings.

The Swarm and the Rush will be the only game of the day on Sunday and both teams are currently chasing the Bandits. Georgia is only behind Buffalo due to winning percentage at 8-7. The Bandits will need to create some separation from the Swarm if they want to be above them in the standings come April. Georgia holds the tiebreaker over Buffalo thanks to their win at KeyBank Center in December.