The Buffalo Bandits opened a three-game road trip with a 12-11 overtime loss to the Panther City Lacrosse Club inside Dickies Arena on Friday.
The Bandits took an 11-10 lead with 53 seconds remaining after Dhane Smith found Tehoka Nanticoke for a goal in front of the crease, but Panther City tied the score with 20 seconds left to force overtime before Jonathan Donville put away the game winner.
Panther City goaltender Nick Damude stopped 51 of Buffalo’s 62 shots to keep the Bandits at bay throughout the game. Will Malcom recorded a seven-point night while Donville’s game winner completed a hat trick and capped off a five-point performance.
Josh Byrne led the way from start to finish for Buffalo as he scored a first-quarter hat trick and recorded seven points, surpassing the 100-point mark for the first time in his career. Smith (2+5), Nanticoke (1+3), Chris Cloutier (1+3), and Kyle Buchanan (1+2) all posted multi-point nights. Buffalo’s defense stood tall in front of Matt Vinc, blocking 14 shots, as Vinc made 36 saves.
The Bandits dropped to 7-7 with the loss and now sit in seventh in the NLL standings.
Buffalo and Panther City exchanged goals in the opening quarter as Damude totaled 15 saves. He added a goalie goal when he shot the ball into the Bandits’ empty net with Vinc on the bench for the extra attacker, giving Panther City a 4-3 lead at the end of the first.
In the second quarter, it was Buffalo’s leaders on offense getting on the board. Byrne found Buchanan behind the goal for a diving dunk to the far post before Smith got into the scoring and tied the game at 5-5 with a bouncer into the top right corner of the net.
Damude turned it up a notch in the third quarter as he made 17 saves to shut down the Bandits offense, limiting them to just one goal in the third to give Panther City an 8-6 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Bandits opened the fourth on a four-goal run with tallies from Adam Bomberry, Cloutier, and a pair of goals from Byrne to give Buffalo a two-goal lead, but Panther City responded to tie the score at 10-10 with 3:17 remaining before handing the Bandits their seventh loss of the season.
Here’s more from the game.
IR Returners
Before the game, two key players returned to the Buffalo lineup off injured reserve. Bomberry and Brandon Robinson both brought extra physicality to the Buffalo transition group.
Bomberry found the spark for Buffalo in the fourth quarter as he scored the first goal of the four-goal run. He also drove transition for the Bandits with eight loose-ball recoveries.
Robinson totaled four loose-ball recoveries and an assist in his return to the lineup.
Next Time Out
The Bandits will continue their away stint and look to go above .500 as they travel to Philadelphia next week to take on the Wings. It will be an afternoon start with faceoff set for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.