The morning after Josh Byrne’s game-winning goal in overtime to beat the Saskatchewan Rush 11-10, head coach John Tavares noticed a more confident group during the Buffalo Bandits’ film session ahead of their game against the Toronto Rock.
The Bandits beat the Rock that night to improve to 6-6. One week later, Tavares said he’s looking for his group to continue their winning ways against the Colorado Mammoth on Friday at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
“The game at home against Saskatchewan, they’re the top team in the league, they’re rolling through everybody.” Tavares said. “That was a really big win for us. … Hopefully we can still maintain that chemistry and that confidence going against a team that embarrassed us last time we played in Colorado.”
The Mammoth – who are tied for second in the NLL at 9-4 – jumped out to a 6-0 lead in that previous matchup in Buffalo on Jan. 31. They went on to win 20-9, the most goals allowed in a game by the Bandits since 2017.
Tavares said the Bandits will “have an extra fire in the belly” to rectify the result in Colorado and noted that improving their standing on the playoff bubble hinges on their ability to beat top teams like the Mammoth.
“Their first shift they scored and I don’t know why, but for whatever reason with that goal, I just felt heads on the bench go down, and it was just an uphill battle from there,” Tavares said. “It seemed like when they didn’t score, they got rebounds and got repossessions and they had the ball a lot. When we got the ball, we tried to rush because we didn’t have it very often.
“It just felt like we were under the gun right from the get-go which is very uncharacteristic of a lacrosse game where you feel pressured in the opening 10 minutes of the game. It’s a game of runs and we seemed to be impatient, and they seemed to just continue to gain confidence, and everything that they did worked, and everything we did didn’t work.”
One of the aspects of the Bandits’ game that did work in their first matchup was the power play, which went 4-for-5 with two tallies from Dhane Smith.
Tavares said the 11-goal loss served as both a game to forget and a wake-up call. In the rematch, his group will look to play with a sense of urgency right from the opening faceoff, be it through a strong offensive possession or a defensive stand that fuels transition.
“I think those first couple shifts would just give us confidence against Colorado, after the game that we played in Colorado.” he said. “We just need to just see that, ‘Hey, we can play with these guys. We’re just as good as them.’”
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Resetarits, Hendrycks bring size and skill to new look Bandits offense
Bandits general manager Steve Dietrich was busy during the NLL trade deadline on Monday and acquired Tyler Hendrycks from the Calgary Roughnecks for a 2026 sixth-round pick and Joe Resetarits from the Philadelphia Wings for Lukas Nielsen and a 2026-second round pick.
Dietrich brought in defenseman Paul Dawson at the deadline last season and defenseman Mitch de Snoo days before the 2025-26 season began. Tavares said improving the offense was a focal point and noted that the moves sense a message of confidence to the team.
“When they see management making moves like that to improve the team at the deadline, it shows faith in the team,” Tavares said. “It shows that we believe in this team, and we believe that we can go out and try to win. We just traded Lukas Nielsen, who was a first-round pick, and gave up a second-round pick for Joe. … He’s a prolific goal scorer and established goal scorer. That sends the message to the team ‘Boys, we have a team to win here. We believe in you. Let’s put this together and let’s have a good finish.’”
Hendrycks – who will play offense for the Bandits despite playing defense for Calgary – brings a physical style as a 6-foot-3, 215-pound left-handed shooter while Resetarits has 947 total points between regular-season and playoff games, the most points by an American-born player in NLL history.
Tavares said both Hendrycks and Resetarits can create their own shots, a dynamic that can play well with how Byrne and Smith can distribute the ball. Resetarits is an elite passer in his own right and is the first American-born player with 500 or more assists.
Tavares played with Resetarits during the latter’s first stint in Banditland in 2014 and 2015. The former will now get to coach his former teammate, who will be a critical piece for the Bandits down the stretch.
“I remember having the opportunity to play with Joe and thinking how much of a great teammate he is, and he does a lot of hard work,” Tavares said. “He just finds ways to make things work. He has an unbelievable shot from the outside, he has the ability to get to the net and he is also a good facilitator. Joe is a welcome addition. … Joe is a dog out there, he’s a guy who can get to the net, he’s going to do whatever it takes to win.”
Where the Bandits stand
The Bandits are currently tied with the San Diego Seals for seventh in the NLL standings at 6-6.
Buffalo’s next test after Colorado is San Diego before closing out the season against the Rush, Warriors, Rochester Knighthawks and Oshawa FireWolves. The Bandits received a helpful result as Rochester lost to Oshawa on Sunday.
Tavares recognized the strength of the Bandits’ remaining schedule and said the group understands how every game is critical despite the back-to-back wins that have thrusted the Bandits back into the playoff conversation.
“I think it gives a lot of confidence,” Tavares said. “I think that team was starting to doubt ourselves in terms of where we stand in the league now after having a lot of success and just finding ways to lose. Guys are putting all the possible effort that they can put in, always playing at 100 percent and just losing an overtime game, losing in the last quarter, having the lead a couple times, and giving up the leads. Just all that hard work eventually paid off. It’s definitely nice to get wins and puts us back in the playoff hunt.
“Right now, our goal is to make the playoffs and we know that we have a hard schedule ahead so we need all the confidence in the world going into every game from now on. I would say that every game to us is like a playoff game.”
The Bandits will be looking for help this week from the Halifax Thunderbirds (who play the sixth-place Toronto Rock) and from the Calgary Roughnecks (who face fifth-place Ottawa).
Vancouver takes on the fourth-place Georgia Swarm and Banditland will want to root on the Rush who play the Seals.
Full NLL standings:
- Saskatchewan Rush (10-3)
- Colorado Mammoth (9-4)
- Vancouver Warriors (9-4)
- Georgia Swarm (8-4)
- Ottawa Black Bears (8-5)
- Toronto Rock (7-5)
- Buffalo Bandits (6-6)
- San Diego Seals (6-6)
- Rochester Knighthawks (5-6)
- Halifax Thunderbirds (5-7)
- Las Vegas Desert Dogs (4-7)
- Calgary Roughnecks (3-9)
- Oshawa FireWolves (3-10)
- Philadelphia Wings (3-10)
Scouting the Mammoth
The Mammoth have dropped two of their last three games including a 10-5 defeat to Ottawa last time out. Colorado has scored the third most goals in the NLL this season but went the final 26:15 against the Black Bears – who scored the final seven goals – scoreless.
Andrew Kew had 11 points in the first matchup against Buffalo and is tied with Jeff Teat for the NLL lead with 35 goals in just nine games. Will Malcolm – who didn’t play against Buffalo the first time around – was held pointless against Ottawa but is second on the team with 60 points.
Jack Hannah is one of the top passers in the sport with his team-leading 43 assists after being acquired from Las Vegas in December. Defenseman Robert Hope is fourth in the NLL with 112 loose-ball recoveries and Dillon Ward is second among qualified goaltenders in save percentage at 82 percent.
“They’re going to be hungry because they’re a top three team,” Tavares said. “They want to maintain a home playoff position being a top four team in the final so this is going to be an important game for them as well, because they’re trying to find their confidence. They’re coming in after embarrassing us, we’re coming in with fire in our belly for a couple of reasons to redeem ourselves, and we need to make the playoffs. … Both teams have a lot to play for this weekend so it should be really good tilt.”