The Buffalo Bandits are preparing for their fourth consecutive NLL Finals, a best-of-three series against the Albany FireWolves that begins with two games this weekend.
Game 1 in Albany is Friday at 7 p.m. and will be televised in the Buffalo broadcast market on CW23 and streamed nationally on ESPN+. The official watch party at Southern Tier Brewing, located at 7 Scott Street, will have drink specials and merchandise giveaways.
Game 2 in Buffalo is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and will also be televised locally on CW23 and streamed nationally on ESPN+.
Radio coverage of Games 1 and 2 can be found on WGR 550.
Game 3, if necessary, will be played in Albany on Saturday, May 25 at 5 p.m.
The Bandits are coming off a sweep of the Toronto Rock in the NLL Semifinals after a 6-0 run in the fourth quarter propelled them to a 10-8 victory in a decisive Game 2. Josh Byrne, who was named NLL Offensive Player of the Year on Thursday, scored or assisted on each of the six goals.
Buffalo is now in its fourth finals since 2019, the year John Tavares took over as head coach. The Bandits lost the championship series that year to Calgary, then – after two seasons with no playoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic – fell to Colorado in the Finals in 2022.
The Bandits finally broke through and claimed the NLL Cup in a three-game rematch with the Mammoth last season, setting them up for a chance to claim back-to-back titles and a sixth championship in franchise history this year.
“Well, it’s the fourth overall, we lost the first two and won last year,” Tavares said. “Guys are hungry, and we’ve got a great balance of veterans and young guys. Guys buy in the system, and (when) you buy in the system and play as a team, not individuals, great things can happen.”
The focus now shifts to the Albany FireWolves, a team that had Buffalo’s number in the regular season. The Bandits lost 17-13 in Albany on opening night, then dropped the home matchup with the FireWolves 13-10 on Feb. 24.
Both teams have changed considerably in the meantime. The Bandits added faceoff specialist Connor Farrell and defenseman Paul Dawson in March. The FireWolves also brought in defensive reinforcements ahead of the trade deadline.
The matchup features a pair of MVP finalists in Byrne and fellow Bandits forward Dhane Smith against two Rookie of the Year finalists in FireWolves forwards Tye Kurtz and Alex Simmons.
“I think it’s just focusing on ourselves, playing our game,” Smith said. “Albany’s a great team, they’ve had our number this year, but again, I feel like they play a weird style of defense and they’re youthful. Their young offense buzzes around and you don’t know who’s gonna have the ball. … We’ve made a couple adjustments through those games and we just gotta stick to our game plan. At the end of the day, we need to dictate and make them adjust to us rather than adjust to them.”
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the series.
A memorable journey with highs and lows all comes down to this. 🏆
Read more on the full-season journey back to the NLL Finals: https://t.co/HPK4E49DxA pic.twitter.com/nIwnxlTyv0
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) May 15, 2024
Roster changes
Late-season additions to the Buffalo roster could prove to be vital against Albany, including the presence of Farrell on faceoffs.
Without Farrell in two regular-season matchups, the Bandits went 12-for-61 at the faceoff dot against FireWolves specialist Joe Nardella.
Farrell and Nardella have played against each other twice before in outdoor play. In the box game, the 6-foot-2, 240-pound Farrell can use his size to his advantage even more. With Farrell taking faceoffs, the Bandits also have Ian MacKay – who was trying his hand on draws during the two regular-season meetings with Albany – available to scoop loose balls.
Albany, meanwhile, added to its defense and transition game when it sent a 2024 first-round draft pick to Las Vegas for John Wagner. In just five games with the team, Wagner already ranks fourth on the team in caused turnovers and blocks to go with three assists.
Special teams
Special teams could be an area of opportunity for the Bandits. The FireWolves power play ranked last in the NLL during the regular season at 33 percent. Their penalty kill ranked second-last at 44 percent.
Albany opened the postseason 0-for-8 with the extra man in the quarterfinal against Halifax, then went 8-for-19 (42 percent) in the semifinal series against San Diego.
When you combine that with Buffalo’s aggressive penalty kill and the fact that Buffalo has comfortability on the floor with only four guys, The FireWolves power play could be defining moments of the series.
Matt Vinc has his own *not so* Secret Service in front of him. 😤
Read the feature story on the strength of this year’s defensive core: https://t.co/QT9JfeWLIR pic.twitter.com/UJjXGDwMao
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) May 10, 2024
Scouting the FireWolves
Glenn Clark won the Les Bartley Award as head coach of the year as well as the General Manager of the Year award for guiding the FireWolves to an 11-7 record during the regular season, good for the No. 3 seed in the NLL’s unified standings.
Much of Albany’s roster is new from last season, but there are pieces of consistency. One is the goalie play of Doug Jamieson, who has been with the organization his entire career. The other is Ethan Walker, who ranked second on the team this season with 85 points.
For perspective on how Albany has improved: Walker also ranked second on the team last season, but with 56 points.
“They got a great goaltender, an athletic defense and you got some young guys who play unbelievable offense,” Tavares said. “They’ve got great goal scorers. They’re an up-and-coming bunch that already made the finals a lot sooner than I thought. They’re going to be very, very hungry.”