Matt Vinc tried not to look at the scoreboard.
He knew the score, he just didn’t know how much time was left – he didn’t want to.
He simply tried to take Friday’s quarterfinal matchup against the San Diego Seals one play at a time – and, as he has so many times throughout recent Bandits playoff runs, he got the job done.
Vinc made 48 saves to anchor a stellar defensive effort from the Bandits in their 5-4 win over the Seals at KeyBank Center. The four goals against tied the fewest allowed by the Bandits in a single game in franchise history (regular season or playoffs). Vinc previously held opponents to four goals in the deciding Game 3 of the 2023 NLL Finals and in Game 1 of last year’s NLL Semifinals against Toronto.
Matt Vinc masterpiece. 🧱
48 saves and only four goals allowed! pic.twitter.com/FhWKTWDFW2
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) April 26, 2025
The Bandits advanced to the best-of-three NLL Semifinals, with Game 1 scheduled for next Friday, May 2 at KeyBank Center. They will play the winner of this Saturday’s quarterfinal matchup between Rochester and Vancouver.
Tickets for Game 1 in Banditland are on sale now.
The Bandits scored just five goals on Friday night, the least number of goals in a playoff game they’ve had since 2009 – but they won, and Vinc took home first star. The 5-4 final marked the lowest-scoring game in NLL history, according to nllstats.com.
In a grinding 60 minutes of play in which the Bandits didn’t score the entire second half, Vinc commanded the game, making 21 of his 48 stops during his team’s scoring drought. He and his defense held the Seals to scoring droughts of 17:49, 17:12 and 19:59 – 55 minutes in total – recording his third playoff game in three years in which he’s allowed four goals.
In front of him, Steve Priolo and Paul Dawson – grizzled NLL veterans, like Vinc – put their bodies on the line for the sake of making Vinc’s job easier. Both blocked four shots as the Bandits finished with 17 blocks in total.
If not for a goal from San Diego with one second left in the game, Vinc and his defense would’ve set a record for goals allowed in a game.
“I think (reading shots) starts by putting them in places that we’re comfortable with and then you get in a little bit of a groove,” Vinc said. “I think for the most part we didn’t give them a lot of second opportunities which goes a long way and limited their time and space, especially in the front of the doorstep.”
The loud KeyBank Center atmosphere to begin the NLL Playoffs was contrasted with a quiet first quarter from Buffalo and San Diego.
Vinc and San Diego goalie Chris Origlieri kept each other’s offense in check with Vinc saving 16 shots to Origlieri’s 10. Twice in the last five minutes of the quarter, Vinc stepped up to the Seals shooter and blocked the shot with his chest and then managed to save the second San Diego shot off the rebound.
Despite the quiet offenses, Ian MacKay used chaos to his advantage. The forward picked up a groundball from Dhane Smith being double-teamed and went uninhibited on his run to the goal, jumping and scoring for the first goal of the game.
“Obviously it worked out great, but he was saying maybe don’t bring that pick to him next time,” MacKay said. “It did cause a double team and luckily it worked out but it’s playoff lacrosse.”
San Diego responded by scoring back-to-back goals at the beginning of the second quarter to take a 2-1 lead. The Bandits answered with four consecutive goals, including MacKay scoring his second of the game.
The highlights of the four-goal run came in the final 1:15 of the quarter beginning with a full field pass from Vinc to Nick Weiss, who broke his defender’s ankles and scored.
Weisser LOST ‘EM! 😱#LetsGoBandits | @NLL pic.twitter.com/ikIrRddRJh
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) April 26, 2025
Then, with time ticking down, Kyle Buchanan netted his second goal of the game, flying from behind the net and scoring with less than a tenth of a second remaining in the first half, giving the Bandits a 5-2 lead at halftime.
Kyle Buchanan dunk at the buzzer! 🚨#LetsGoBandits | @NLL pic.twitter.com/eMT45f1OnL
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) April 26, 2025
The third quarter mirrored the opening frame of the quarterfinals matchup with just one goal scored. This time, it was San Diego who scored the lone goal to bring it to 5-3. Vinc continued his extraordinary performance, making ten saves, including diving across his crease and on top of the ball to inhibit a second-chance shot for the Seals.
In the fourth quarter, Vinc rose to the occasion yet again, getting on his knees or whatever position he needed to be in to make the save, finishing with 11 saves to send Buffalo to the semifinals.
“He’s in phenomenal shape,” head coach John Tavares said. “He can play a lot more years if he wants. Truth be told, he’s a goalie, so he’s not running around. But he can play for five or six more years if he wants to. I’m glad he’s on our team and he had a phenomenal game today.”
BANDITS WIN!!!#LetsGoBandits | @NLL pic.twitter.com/9ON8KPOurj
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) April 26, 2025