On his 29th birthday, Josh Byrne gave Banditland the gift of a win. The Buffalo Bandits forward scored in overtime Saturday night to lift the Bandits to an 11-10 victory over the New York Riptide at KeyBank Center.
Byrne and Dhane Smith scored back-to-back goals in the fourth quarter to help Buffalo overcome a two-goal deficit in the final quarter and force overtime.
In a back-and-forth battle in which the Bandits never led until the end, Smith factored in on every goal with 11 points (3+8). Byrne (3+2) and Kyle Buchanan (3+0) each tallied hat tricks while Chris Cloutier added five assists on the night.
Matt Vinc made 47 saves in net.
“The guys didn’t give up. You’ve got to give them credit,” coach John Tavares said. “Down all game long, to crawl back.”
Buchanan admitted that the Bandits’ recent string of games haven’t been pretty but that the team found a way.
“It’s not for a lack of opportunities,” Buchanan said. “…It’s just I think we’re not hitting our shots, not hitting our spots. We know the skill in our offense, but it’s been a bit of a theme lately where it takes us five to seven minutes to score our first goal of the game.
“I think that’s something that we need to solve is maybe our starts, and then we can kind of roll off of that.”
Jeff Teat (2+4) led the Riptide with six points and goaltender Cameron Dunkerley made 47 saves of his own.
Buffalo improved to 12-4 on the year and are hot on the heels of the 13-4 Toronto Rock for first place in the East with two games remaining in the regular season. With the victory, Buffalo clinched a Quarterfinal home playoff game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST QUARTER
The Riptide opened the scoring with a point-blank shot from Scott Dominey less than three minutes into the game.
While Buffalo generated chances, Dunkerley stood tall in net to keep the Bandits off the scoresheet while Teat extended New York’s lead at the 8:07 mark.
Buchanan wrapped around the crease to get the Bandits on the board with 6:44 remaining in the quarter before Ian MacKay scored what would be the tying goal just 28 seconds later.
The officials called the goal back on a crease violation, but after a challenge by Tavares, the call was reversed to tie the game 2-2.
Shots on goal after one were even at 13 apiece.
The Mickey special! 🤌#LetsGoBandits | @IanMacKay_94 pic.twitter.com/ef1wF8Uuas
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) April 16, 2023
SECOND QUARTER
After a defensive battle to open the frame, Dominey tallied his second of the night to put the Riptide back on top.
Smith bounced a shot off the Riptide’s Andrew Borgatti to notch his 30th of the season on the power play with a little over five minutes remaining in the half.
Dhane got some help on his 30th goal of the year… 🤣#LetsGoBandits | @dhanesmith92 pic.twitter.com/f9ltotmid1
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) April 16, 2023
New York was quick to respond as Larson Sundown dove from behind the net to slip one behind Vinc with 4:22 left on the clock.
Chase Fraser split the defense to tie the game for the third time, but it didn’t last long as the Riptide capitalized on a turnover with 20 seconds left to take a 5-4 lead into the locker room.
Smooth like butter. 😮💨#LetsGoBandits | @The_Fraze95 pic.twitter.com/pE6JQs2Dmb
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) April 16, 2023
THIRD QUARTER
The Riptide took advantage of an early power play as Ethan O’Connor was called for holding less than a minute in. Tyler Digby ripped a shot past Vinc 1:13 in to give New York another two-goal lead.
Buffalo inched within one with Buchanan’s second goal at 8:52, assisted by Smith and Cloutier.
Mike Burke picked the top right corner with 3:59 left in the third to give the Riptide a 7-5 advantage.
Just 22 seconds later, Buchanan completed his hat trick from Byrne and Smith.
Things began to get chippy in the final minutes of the quarter, but the Bandits stuck to their game plan and were rewarded with a goal by Smith to tie the contest at seven with 48 seconds on the clock.
New York answered back quickly once again as Digby nabbed his second of the game to put the Riptide up 8-7 with one quarter to go.
FOURTH QUARTER
The Riptide scored 5:20 into the final frame to keep the Bandits at bay.
Byrne tallied his first from Smith at 8:03 to keep things interesting before the Riptide responded with a goal of their own.
Byrne brought the Bandits within one with his 36th of the season with 5:54 remaining and Smith ripped a shot past Dunkerley to tie the contest at 10 with just 29 seconds left.
Max Adler won the ensuing faceoff to give the Bandits possession with 19.5 seconds left on the clock but the group couldn’t capitalize, sending the game to overtime.
OVERTIME
Byrne scored the overtime winner 4:04 into the extra period to complete the comeback and defeat the Riptide.
Byrning hot birthday win. 🔥#LetsGoBandits | @Joshbyrne94 pic.twitter.com/OVAVolm3Ca
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) April 16, 2023
LOOKING AHEAD
The Bandits close out the home portion of their regular season schedule with a rematch against the Rock on Saturday, April 22 at KeyBank Center.