The Buffalo Bandits pulled off a fourth-quarter comeback to defeat the Toronto Rock 14-12 at KeyBank Center on Saturday. The Bandits scored four unanswered goals to close out the game, including Josh Byrne’s game-winning tally with 3:32 left to play.

Buffalo went into the fourth quarter with 2:30 left on their five-minute power play down 10-8. The Bandits managed to tie the game at 10 before the Rock re-established their two-goal lead. Ian MacKay, Chris Cloutier and Byrne each had an answer before Nick Weiss iced the game with an empty netter.

The Bandits improved to 7-6 with the win while the Rock dropped to 11-3.

Bandits coach John Tavares was proud of the group’s effort to complete the comeback.

“I thought the guys played a full 60 minutes,” Tavares said. “Right from Matty to the defense, transition and offense. I thought that was one of our best games. Definitely one of our best second halves.

“Great teams – they never think they’re out regardless of the score, and you had that feeling that we’re in this.”

Dhane Smith (3+4) and Byrne (2+5) led the Bandits with seven-point nights. Weiss (1+3), MacKay (2+1), and Dylan Robinson (1+1) all had multi-point nights in transition. Matt Vinc totaled 47 saves in net.

The Rock were led by three individual six-point performances from Tom Schreiber (1+5), Mark Matthews (2+4), and Corey Small (4+2). Chris Boushy was the second star of the game with his four-goal performance while Nick Rose made 40 saves in the Toronto net.

Toronto’s TD Ierlan won 22-of-31 faceoffs, but despite the tough go at the dot, Buffalo made up for it in transition. The Bandits notched three goals in transition in the first quarter to help carry a 6-5 lead into the first break.

Tavares was happy with the production from his defense.

“They were huge,” Tavares said. “Scoring when you barely have the ball means a lot to get you in the game. Without those transition goals, it puts a lot of pressure on the offense to score five-on-five and that’s the hardest thing to do in lacrosse.”

Toronto’s defense turned it up a notch in the second. The Rock shut Buffalo out as Small notched a second-quarter hat trick to give Toronto a 9-6 lead at halftime.

The momentum shifted in the third quarter when MacKay went down after taking a cross-check to the neck into the glass by Boushy. Boushy was assessed a five-minute boarding penalty, giving the Bandits a five-minute non-releasable power play. They scored a minute in thanks to the deception of Tehoka Nanticoke. Nanticoke received a pass from Byrne and cocked his stick back to fake out Rose and bury a quick shot into the nearly empty net.

Had to slow this one down 🥵#LetsGoBandits pic.twitter.com/HBvohbHq2W

— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) March 17, 2024

Nanticoke’s goal brought the Bandits within two and from there, they outscored the Rock 6-2 in the final quarter to secure the win. MacKay came back onto the floor midway through the fourth and scored the first dagger of the final four-goal run.

Here’s more from the win.

The rivalry

With the loss, Toronto still sits atop the NLL standings, but fell to Buffalo for the second time this season after losing to the Bandits 16-14 on Jan. 27 in Toronto.

The Bandits have scored more goals on the Rock than any other team in the NLL this season, which Smith attributes to the rivalry between the two teams.

“Big rivalry, obviously, and playing in front of thousands and thousands of fans, especially at home, it’s that much more special,” Smith said. “They’re a great team. We’re a great team. We both don’t like each other and that’s what’s fun about it.”

Dawson’s debut

Paul Dawson made his Bandits debut against the Rock in front of 18,463 fans after he was acquired in a trade with Colorado on Tuesday.

Dawson sported the No. 6, which is synonymous with the number his older brother and NLL great Dan Dawson wore prior to his retirement.

The defenseman recorded three blocked shots and four loose-ball recoveries in his debut in front of his old teammate, Vinc.

“Me and Matty have a lot of history and it makes the transition easier,” Dawson said. “He knows what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna know what he’s gonna do. It just makes me kind of slot into this team pretty easily.”

Following the game, Smith emphasized the impact a veteran player like Dawson can have on the game.

“I know he’s been in the league longer than me, but I wanted to make sure he understood that he’s a leader on this team and guys are gonna listen,” Smith said. “It just showed tonight, I feel like defensively we were a lot tighter and a lot more aggressive and we were doing the right things.”

Dawson can prove to be key down the stretch as a defenseman who’s been in playoff situations before. He can be just as big of an impact as a mentor for first-round picks like Cam Wyers and Zach Belter.

“As more young guys come in, you kind of get separated from that because you’re just so old and you’re not playing against these guys and they were in diapers when I first started playing in the league,” Dawson said. “But when I first came in, there were other guys helping me so it’s just kind of like that, paying it forward. They don’t need that much help but just trying to do what I can.”