When the Buffalo Bandits and Toronto Rock played on Friday at KeyBank Center, you didn’t need anybody to tell you that there was an intense rivalry between the two teams. The players did that for themselves through their play.
After Nick Weiss and Billy Hostrawser were sent to the penalty box with 10-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, the two players jawed back and forth as their words empowered their teams on the benches across from them.
Sixty minutes of intense lacrosse ended as Weiss won the battle for Buffalo, scoring the game-winning goal between the legs of Toronto goalie Nick Rose with 43 seconds remaining to keep the Bandits’ undefeated start alive with a 15-13 victory.
The Bandits, who improved to 4-0, trailed 13-12 after Mitch de Snoo scored for Toronto with 5:21 left to play. Chase Fraser netted the tying goal with 1:13 remaining to set the stage for Weiss’ game winner. Dhane Smith added the final goal with eight seconds on the clock.
Ian MacKay set a career-high in points (8) and tied his career-high in goals (5) in the win. Smith recorded his second game with 10 or more points, notching a team-high eight assists.
Though Toronto entered the night 0-4, the competitive nature of the game lived up to expectations for two teams that have met in the NLL Semifinals each of the past three seasons.
“The first three games, we’ve played well, and things have gone our way,” head coach John Tavares said. “I’m not expecting every game to go that way. I’m expecting a dogfight every game and this is not surprising regardless of what happened in the first three games. I told the guys, ‘We’re 3-0 and they’re 0-4, when that whistle starts, no one knows what their records are so just play hard.’”
Buffalo and Toronto matched each other in the first quarter, going goal-for-goal and run-for-run with one another.
Toronto opened the game with two goals within the first three minutes before the Bandits used two goals from Josh Byrne and Kyle Buchanan in a 1:50 span to tie the game back at two. There was a minute-and-a-half lull in scoring before Toronto lit the lamp for the third time, making it 3-2.
Almost a minute later, Tehoka Nanticoke scored a miraculous goal on the crease for the second consecutive game. With a man on him, Nanticoke did a 360 and somehow managed to shoot past Rock goalkeeper Nick Rose.
TEHOKA NANTICOKE WOULD LIKE A WORD #SCtop10 😤 pic.twitter.com/HPgj7KEVUR
— NLL (@NLL) January 11, 2025
The Rock scored two consecutive goals to make it 5-3, but MacKay used the final minute to draw things back to even before the end of the quarter.
With 55 seconds remaining, MacKay took a pass from Dhane Smith and picked the top left corner to bring Buffalo within one. Then with time winding down, Dylan Robinson fed a streaking MacKay, who launched a sidearm shot from beyond the restraining line and past Rose to tie the game at five.
“I thought it’d be too late, and I was able to get one off,” MacKay said. “I think it’s huge for momentum if something like that goes, it deflates them a little bit and gives us the momentum, even at the end of the quarter. I’m just happy it ended up going in.”
This one was for Steve. @IanMacKay_94 https://t.co/I1FToNoQsf pic.twitter.com/mmHz6JeCE6
— NLL (@NLL) January 11, 2025
After MacKay picked the left corner on Rose at the end of the first quarter, Smith picked the top right corner at the start of the second quarter and gave the Bandits their first lead of the game. Corey Small retaliated with two Rock goals to give them the lead before Josh Byrne scored his second goal of the game to even things up for the fifth time in the game.
With 1:23 left in the half, Toronto scored to make it 8-7 going into halftime, making it the first time the Bandits have trailed at halftime since March 16, 2024.
MacKay notched his second hat trick of the season after a near seven-minute scoring lull by both teams, shooting a high-to-low missile from the restraining line and tying the game at eight. He scored his fourth goal of the game with 5:37 left in the third to retake the lead from the Rock, making it 9-8.
Eighteen seconds later, the Rock tied it yet again after the ball dribbled in after an initial save from Matt Vinc. Chris Boushy scored 2:32 later to make it 10-9 in favor of Toronto going into the final quarter.
Buffalo looked to have tied the game after Smith intercepted Rose’s outlet pass and fed it to an open Buchanan on the crease for a goal, but it was called back for an illegal substitution, giving Toronto a man-up for two minutes. They converted on this opportunity, making it a two-goal deficit for Buffalo.
Thirty seconds later, however, Buffalo started a run that took just 1:06 to score three goals and take the lead.
Byrne started it off, scoring via Rose making the initial save but stumbling backwards and allowing the ball to roll in. Then, Smith fed MacKay across the offensive zone to tie the game at 11. Forty-four seconds later, Buchanan made up for the earlier called-off goal and ripped a shot past three defenders in front of the goal to make it 12-11 Buffalo.
Toronto scored two consecutive goals, once again taking back the lead with 5:31 left in the game.
With 1:13 remaining, Fraser faked right and went left, leaping into the crease and shooting the ball over Rose’s left shoulder to tie the game.
Thirty seconds later, after Vinc dropped to his knees to make a crucial pad save, Weiss went coast to coast and shot it through the five-hole of Rose to score the game-winning goal.
“Thankfully caught (the ball) and (the defense) went straight to Josh Byrne,” Weiss said. “I had a lane and threw a couple of fakes and found a hole.”
To cap off the comeback and 15-13 victory, Smith scored an empty netter for his 10th point of the night.
“Great teams find a way to win at the end of the day,” Smith said. “We’re a great team and they’re trying to find out their identity. At the end of the day, we need to win games like that, and we were able to do that tonight, so we have to look forward to Philadelphia now.”
You want a last-minute game-winning goal, Banditland?
Ask and Nick Weiss shall provide 😏@NLLBandits are 4-0! pic.twitter.com/bsJ8yUR6SH
— NLL (@NLL) January 11, 2025