The Buffalo Bandits will travel east to Albany, N.Y. to take on the FireWolves in their second matchup of the season Saturday at MVP Arena at 7 p.m.

The Bandits are coming off a 13-10 win over Las Vegas on Friday in which they clinched both the Tucker Out Lymphoma Cup and a playoff berth for the fifth consecutive year.

The game will be broadcast locally on CW23 and streaming on ESPN+, and it’s available in Canada on either TSN+ or the new NLL+ streaming platform. The local radio broadcast is available on 1520 AM.

Here’s everything you need to know before the opening faceoff.

Tucker Out Lymphoma Cup

This is the final game of Tucker Out Lymphoma Cup play, which accounts for the head-to-head results between Buffalo, Albany, and Las Vegas.

The tournament was created in honor of Tucker Williams, the son of former Bandit and Las Vegas head coach Shawn Williams and younger brother of Albany forward Dyson Williams. Tucker passed away from Burkitt’s Lymphoma on Dec. 17, 2014, at just 8 years old.

The Bandits clinched the Cup with Friday’s win over Las Vegas.

Braver than brave. 💚 pic.twitter.com/qa3SXik6xT

— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) March 22, 2025

Familiar Faces

Albany and Buffalo have already met this season on Feb. 1 – a 16-10 Bandits win at KeyBank Center – in the Bandits’ inaugural Tucker Out Lymphoma Cup game.

Josh Byrne had 10 points (5+5), his third most in a game this season behind 12 (7+5) on Jan. 18 against Philadelphia and 11 (2+9) on Dec. 28 against Rochester.

Dhane Smith added 10 points (3+7) in the win, tied for his second-best offensive output this season (Jan. 10 vs. Toronto, Jan. 18 vs. Philadelphia). His season high was 11 points (3+8) in the Dec. 7 season opener at Rochester. Smith’s three goals in the previous matchup matches his season high.

Playoff Potential

The Bandits will clinch a home playoff game with a win and losses by both Georgia (at Vancouver) and San Diego (at Calgary).

Scouting the FireWolves

The FireWolves have hosted the Bandits four times since moving from New England for the 2021-22 season. Buffalo is 3-1 at Albany, most recently winning Game 1 of the 2024 NLL Finals; that 12-8 victory set up the Bandits’ championship-clinching win the next day at KeyBank Center.

Buffalo’s sole loss in Albany came in the season opener last season, a 17-13 defeat. The Bandits are averaging 13.25 goals scored per game and 11.5 goals against per game across the four matchups in Albany.