Buffalo Bandits forward Chase Fraser felt Banditland played a key role in helping the Bandits come back after finding themselves down 8-4 to the Toronto Rock early in the fourth quarter on Sunday.
Fraser scored at the 2:05 mark of the fourth to get the fans on their feet and spark a run of six unanswered goals to lift the Bandits to a 10-8 victory over the Rock in Game 2 of the NLL Semifinals at KeyBank Center.
“It was awesome,” Fraser said. “It’s the fans, right? We scored, scored another one, and then the fans, the energy just picked up. And we just [rode] that wave off their energy and [kept] the momentum going forward. That’s what we do. The fans help us a lot.”
Buffalo swept the best-of-three series with Toronto, clinching an NLL Finals appearance for the fourth consecutive postseason with their eighth straight postseason victory over the Rock.
The Bandits will now take on the Albany FireWolves, who also swept their semifinal series against San Diego on Sunday, in a best-of-three series for the NLL Championship.
Tickets for Game 2 of the Finals at KeyBank Center are available here.
WE’RE GOING BACK‼️#LetsGoBandits pic.twitter.com/y2dLkS0jok
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) May 5, 2024
Coach John Tavares was pleased with the group’s fourth-quarter performance and felt that his team fought back like a championship team.
“It was nice to see the guys stick with it,” he said. “We were flat offensively all game long. … Fraser and Tehoka picked up there. Two quick ones – put us right back in the game. Guys started believing, and it was just contagious after that.”
Fraser scored three fourth-quarter goals, including the game-tying and game-winning tallies, to lead the Bandits in goals scored while Josh Byrne (2+5), Dhane Smith (2+4), Tehoka Nanticoke (2+2), Kyle Buchanan (1+1), and Steve Priolo (0+2) each recorded multi-point nights. Five other Bandits players recorded a point in the win.
Goaltender Matt Vinc, who was coming off a 53-save performance in Friday’s 12-4 win over the Rock, recorded 52 saves on Sunday, including a late kick save on Chris Boushy to limit Toronto to just two second-half goals.
“I thought he had a phenomenal game again,” Tavares said. “When you’re down and flat, you need your goalie to make big saves. He did that, gave us an opportunity to come back. And when we were coming back, he continued to shut the door down.”
Mark Matthews (2+3) and Tom Shreiber (1+4) led Toronto with five points each while Corey Small (2+1) and Boushy (1+2) each recorded three. Nick Rose made 35 stops in between the pipes for the Rock.
The Bandits held a 3-2 lead over the Rock at the end of the first with goals from Smith, Nanticoke, and Buchanan. Smith opened the scoring at the 3:19 mark of the first frame before Toronto responded with a pair of tallies 29 seconds apart to lead with 6:43 remaining in the quarter.
Toronto’s lead didn’t last long as the Bandits came out of the media timeout and converted on a series of quick passes, with Nanticoke burying a feed from Josh Byrne. Buchanan capitalized on a 5-on-3 power play opportunity with 2:12 to go as he faked a shot and then beat Rose low to retake the lead.
The Rock scored three straight power-play goals in the second quarter to ignite a four-goal run, which would take them into the locker room with a 6-3 advantage at halftime. Corey Small tallied Toronto’s first power-play goal of the night 1:20 into the second after Brandon Robinson went to the penalty box for boarding. Mark Matthews and Tom Schreiber each converted on a five-minute power play with Ian MacKay in the box for an illegal cross-check.
Smith put away his second goal of the game to open the second-half scoring, but Toronto answered back with a pair of goals from Chris Weier and Matthews to take their four-goal lead 1:32 into the final quarter. Fraser scored 33 seconds later and Nanticoke dodged Tyler Hendrycks and buried a shot less than a minute after to kick off the Bandits’ six-goal run.
Are you kidding with this one @Tehoka1?!#LetsGoBandits pic.twitter.com/VgMYMpg3Fo
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) May 5, 2024
Here’s more from the win.
1. Byrne’s seven-point performance puts him one point shy of 100 career NLL playoff points. The forward would become just the third player in franchise history to accomplish the feat, behind Tavares and Smith.
2. The Bandits gave the Rock six power-play opportunities in the game, but Smith felt the turning point was when the team found a way to stay out of the penalty box in the second half.
“Obviously, penalties were a huge issue,” Buffalo’s alternate captain said. “But we knew being down only 6-3, we had a chance. Obviously, third quarter was a little bit rough for a bit. And then, I don’t know. Once we got to 8-6, the crowd was unbelievable. It gave goosebumps. It was the weirdest shift of events I’ve ever been a part of and every goal – just bang, bang, bang. It honestly felt like a movie.”
3. Buffalo will play Game 1 of the NLL Finals in Albany on Friday, May 17 at 7 p.m. inside MVP Arena before coming home to Banditland on Saturday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m.