Following a win against the Toronto Rock on Friday, the Buffalo Bandits will look to continue their undefeated season on Saturday as they take on the San Diego Seals at KeyBank Center at 7:30 p.m.
The game will be broadcast on CW23 as well as ESPN+, while Canadian viewers can watch the game live on either TSN+ or the new NLL+ streaming platform. You can listen to the game on the radio locally on 1520 AM.
Here’s everything you need to know before the Bandits’ eighth game of the season.
Last Time Out
The Bandits beat the Toronto Rock 13-12 on Friday to secure their seventh consecutive victory and get the season sweep over their bitter rivals. It took a second-half comeback and hat-tricks from Chris Cloutier, Dhane Smith and Kyle Buchanan to make it happen but Buffalo crossed back over the Canadian border still undefeated.
Toronto got out to a 5-0 lead at the end of the first quarter before the Bandits shut them out in the second quarter and scored three goals to make it 5-3 going into halftime. Buffalo slowly chipped away at the Rock’s lead in the third quarter before tying the game at seven for the first time with 5:33 left in the third frame.
In the final quarter, the Rock opened up with two goals to make it 9-7 but two separate three-goal Buffalo scoring runs made the difference as they took a 13-10 lead, one they would hold onto despite a late push from the Rock.
Marvel Night in Banditland
The Bandits will be wearing special uniforms on Saturday for Marvel Night in Banditland. Buffalo will swap out their usual orange and black for teal, red and orange as they don Iron Man on their sleeves.
The collaboration between the NLL and Marvel is the first of its kind. The Iron Man design represents a comic book cover variant that comic book collectors love, marking the first time that Marvel has allowed this in a sports marketing activation to date.
Don’t miss your chance to bid on our @Marvel Night jerseys! 💥
Winners get to pick them up from the player after Saturday night’s game: https://t.co/Sv8M35wQfX pic.twitter.com/JbV3A4nTXW
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) February 12, 2025
Home Cooking
Over their four-game homestand, the Bandits showed opponents why it’s so hard to play in Buffalo and in front of Banditland.
The Bandits outscored their opponents 63-43 across the four games, beating teams by an average of five goals. Even more notably, across the four home games, the Bandits averaged a crowd of 18,082 fans.
Buffalo’s the only NLL team to boast an undefeated home record (4-0), with the next best being Vancouver and Saskatchewan with 3-1 home records.
Trend to Watch: Turnovers
While the Seals have struggled this season, they’ve been adept at forcing turnovers. Zach Currier and Eli Gobrecht are second and third in the NLL in caused turnovers with 19 and 17, respectively.
The Bandits have largely kept the ball secure in the offensive end, but coming off a game Friday against Toronto, it’ll be vitally important to keep sharp. If the Bandits get lazy with the ball in the offensive end, San Diego has the ability to make them pay.
Scouting the Seals
The Seals enter the game 10th in the NLL with a 4-5 record and a 1-3 record away from home. San Diego is coming off an 11-10 win over the Toronto Rock on Feb. 8 in their only road win of the season.
Rob Hellyer leads the Seals with 40 points (17+23) across nine games this season, followed by Ryan Benesch (34 points), Wesley Berg (33) and Ben McIntosh (31). Christopher Origlieri has been the primary goalie for the Seals, playing all but 40 minutes this season. He’s allowed 11.10 goals per game and saved 76 percent of shots he’s faced.