After winning Game 1 of the NLL Finals 12-10 on Friday, the Bandits are one win away from making history and winning their third consecutive title, an achievement accomplished only once in league history (by the Rochester Knighthawks from 2012 to 2014).
The Saskatchewan Rush will look to delay history when the Bandits visit SaskTel Centre for Game 2 on Sunday at 8 p.m.
Here’s everything you need to know before Buffalo’s potential three-peat clincher:
How to watch
TV (Buffalo broadcast market): CW23
Streaming (out of market): TSN, ESPN+, NLL+, TSN+
Radio: 1520 AM
About Game 1
The Bandits and Rush were engaged in a back-and-forth battle on Friday at KeyBank Center with neither team allowing the other to pull away with the game.
In the first quarter, both teams had two-goal runs before the Rush scored a goal with 3:48 left to take a 3-2 lead into the second frame.
Saskatchewan scored in the beginning of the quarter to take a two-goal lead but three consecutive goals from Buffalo, including two from Ian MacKay, took the lead away from the opposition and gave the Bandits their first lead of the game. Saskatchewan scored back-to-back but MacKay’s third goal of the game evened things at six going into halftime.
In the first half of the third quarter, Saskatchewan put their grip on the game, scoring twice to again take a two-goal lead. With each response goal the Bandits had, the Rush came back with one of their own, putting the score at 10-8 more than eight minutes into the quarter.
However, the Bandits rallied off the strength of three goals from two of their most experienced players, Dhane Smith and Kyle Buchanan, taking an 11-10 lead, one that held until the end of the game.
Buchanan put a stamp on the game with an empty-net goal with 10.8 seconds remaining, with Buffalo relying on a strong defensive effort in the fourth quarter to take Game 1.
Smith Setting Records
Smith had an eight-point performance in Game 1, scoring a hat-trick and recording five assists. In the process, he broke the NLL’s career playoff points record, surpassing Bandits head coach John Tavares’ previous mark of 200.
The performance came after Smith was named NLL Offensive Player of the Year on Thursday and First-Team All-NLL on Friday morning ahead of the game.
Smith now has 207 playoff points (71+136) in his career, a number that took just 34 playoff games to achieve.
Scouting the Rush
In Game 1 the Bandits allowed just two Rush players, Austin Shanks and Zach Manns, to record multiple goals with three and two, respectively.
Shanks and Manns were the two top point-getters for Saskatchewan with eight and four, respectively, while Robert Church had a trio of assists.
The Rush bombarded Matt Vinc with shots throughout the game, forcing him to make 44 saves, including double-digit saves in the first three quarters. Vinc made 13 saves in both the first and third quarters while making 10 in the second quarter.