Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne each had a hat-trick and accounted for six of the Buffalo Bandits’ eight goals, but a game-winner 26 seconds into overtime by Clarke Petterson gave the Halifax Thunderbirds a 9-8 win on Saturday at KeyBank Center.  

Petterson and Dawson Theede each recorded a hat-trick for Halifax, which scored five of the final six goals to erase a 7-4 third-quarter lead for the Bandits. The Thunderbirds took their first lead of the game at 8-7 with 6:41 to play before Bryne’s third of the contest – and the 250th goal of his career – tied it with 3:09 remaining.  

The Bandits silenced the Thunderbirds’ high-flying offense to just four goals in the first half and induced separate scoring droughts of 20:59 and 16:06. However, the Thunderbirds scored three goals in under three minutes in the fourth quarter, and offensive inconsistencies sunk the Bandits, who were unable to navigate the flow of the game with 12 total penalties.  

“We just had the lull when we were taking a lot of penalties,” Smith said. “As an offense, we couldn’t really get in a rhythm as a group, and those are tough times. I need to be better as a leader because you go into those moments, and it’s like, ‘Okay, it’s my turn to go to the net,’ and it’s kind of sloppy, and we don’t play as a unit, and struggle a little bit. Those things happen, it’s early in the season, we’re going to figure those kinks out, but we need to be better.” 

The Bandits scored just two goals in the second half and were largely shut down in transition by the Thunderbirds’ defense and goaltender Warren Hill, who made 45 saves.  

Buffalo outshot Halifax 53-40, and Byrne felt he had “four or five” high-quality chances that he wasn’t able to convert on, noting that those would’ve been critical game changers.  

Byrne had a game-high 17 shots on goal – tied for the second most he’s registered in a single-game in his NLL career – but said it was a series of unfortunate bounces that proved pivotal. And a sequence of penalties – including seven in the first quarter – made it challenging for the Bandits to get everyone involved in the offense. 

Getting all the pieces of the puzzle to connect is something the Bandits are still developing. It’s a byproduct of the schedule, Byrne and head coach John Tavares both discussed, as the Bandits played two games in 13 days and will have another 13 days before their next contest.  

“It drives me nuts, having to play then sit, play then sit,” Byrne said. “It’s like you’re not really in season yet. It’s frustrating, but it is what it is, we’ll get into a rhythm eventually.” 

The Bandits threw a new wrinkle into their offensive mix on Saturday as newcomer Mike Triolo – who was acquired via trade from Saskatchewan in October – made his season debut.  

Tavares said working in pieces like Triolo, second-year forward Clay Scanlan and veteran acquisition Ryan Benesch – who recorded a goal and two assists – will take time but has been difficult with the schedule.  

“The breaks in the schedule don’t help the offense,” Tavares said. “I think the more we play, the more chemistry you develop offensively. You can practice all you want; the chemistry is developed in the game, the 5-on-5 live action against opponents. That’s when you learn how to play … We try to talk about spacing, we throw some patterns in, some plays in, but at the end of the day, you get the ball 60 times, maybe you run 10 plays, you’re freelancing 80 percent of the time. It’s a matter of getting used to everybody and their tendencies.” 

The Bandits for the second consecutive game dressed only eight defensive players instead of their traditional nine, as Ron John was scratched for Kiel Matisz, who also made his season debut.  

It was a defensive slugfest for much of the third quarter as both teams mustered just one goal. The Bandits made it difficult on the talented Thunderbirds’ offensive group during the 16:06 scoring drought that stretched from the 11:37 mark of the second quarter to 12:43 in the third.  

Buffalo had 74 total loose-ball recoveries, with seven Bandits defensemen recording four or more, including Nick Weiss, who had a team-high nine. Buffalo held Randy Staats scoreless and Cody Jamieson to just two points, but defensive miscues were costly down the stretch.  

“It was really little mental mistakes that we made that they capitalized on, just positionally,” Weiss said. “We wanted to be able to force them out and not sit. I think we sat too much, and I think we just need to clean up some of our communication. That would be big, but again, not playing doesn’t help you clean up communication. Can’t really blame it on that because we’re a veteran group that has played together for a whil,e so we just need to be better in the big moments.” 

Bandits’ power play shines 

During a fiery and fierce opening quarter that sent six different players to the penalty box – including Staats, who was issued a four-minute roughing penalty – Buffalo was able to manage the momentum with a pair of power-play goals.  

The first came with 4:08 remaining in the quarter as Ian MacKay scored the 100th goal of his NLL career. The second was less than two minutes later as Benesch potted his lone tally of the contest.  

The Bandits went 3-for-5 on the power play after going 1-for-3 in the opener against the Georgia Swarm. Smith scored his third of the game on the power play in the third quarter to make it 7-4, but he feels the power play is still working to develop as a unit.  

“I think we can always be better,” Smith said. “We have so many great players on our offense, and I feel like the past few years, our power play hasn’t been great, and that’s on us. Just finding different ways to kind of get good looks. I think at the end of the day, we are a little bit unselfish at times and we just need to shoot the ball. We have a lot of guys that can put the ball in the net, so just keep it simple.” 

Up next

The Bandits will have another week off before returning to action on the road against the Calgary Roughnecks at 6 p.m. from WestJet Field at Scotiabank Saddledome.