Dhane Smith will enjoy the records he’s broken once he’s hung up the gloves and not a second sooner.
Right now, all that Smith is focused on is winning his third championship.
Smith broke the NLL’s all-time record for career playoff points – previously held by his current head coach, John Tavares – and paced the Bandits with eight points in their come-from-behind, 12-10 victory over the Saskatchewan Rush in Game 1 of the NLL Finals at KeyBank Center on Friday.
Buffalo can clinch the best-of-three series – and a third consecutive title – with a victory in Game 2, scheduled for 8 p.m. on Sunday at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.
The all-time NLL playoff point record belongs to Dhane Smith! 👑#LetsGoBandits | @NLL pic.twitter.com/pgEzkCTNtT
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) May 17, 2025
While Smith’s latest record is indicative of the work he’s put in over the course of his 12-year career, he’d rather have another ring.
“When my career is over, I might look back and be like, ‘That’s pretty cool,’ but right now I’m just focused on winning championships,” Smith said. “Again, these records are meant to be broken, but I have my teammates to support me and make me a better player. I wouldn’t be putting up assists without these guys doing the little things to get open. It’s a team award at the end of the day.”
Smith had played in 33 playoff games prior to Friday night’s contest, along with a core group of players on the Bandits roster that has been together for five consecutive NLL Finals appearances.
Entering the second half tied 6-6, Smith flipped a switch and used his postseason experience and pure skill to his advantage.
Smith registered four points (2+2) over the course of eight minutes, including scoring two goals that kept the Bandits within one and then completing his hat trick with what stood as the game-winning goal to put the Bandits on top, 11-10.
“I think as we get older, we let the game come to us a little bit more and we don’t put as pressure on ourselves as we used to,” Smith said. “I feel like my first few years I put so much pressure [and] weight on my shoulders to win a championship and then I was stressing myself out and I wasn’t playing my game. Now, I don’t get frustrated when things aren’t going our way. I know it’s going to come just sticking to our gameplan and eventually a team is going to break.”
Tavares has been alongside Smith since the latter’s rookie season, for three years as a teammate and since then as a coach. He watched Smith battle through the tribulations of three Finals losses to become a two-time champion, all while personal accolades – two Most Valuable Player awards, the single-season assist record and, this past week, an Offensive Player of the Year Award – piled up.
“Dhane’s one of the best players because he’s very determined to be the best,” Tavares said. “Regardless of what the score is, he never gives up and he always wants the ball when it matters the most and he showed today why he deserves to have the ball. I thought he was an integral part of that comeback.”
Buffalo fell behind 2-0 to open Game 1 but answered with goals scored in quick succession from Josh Byrne and Kyle Buchanan.
Byrnzy gets Banditland ON. THEIR. FEET. 🚨#LetsGoBandits | @Joshbyrne94 pic.twitter.com/IbaTz16MzC
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) May 16, 2025
The Rush netted the next two goals to reclaim their lead, then appeared to pull ahead 5-2 early in the second period on a goal that was instead taken off the board for a crease violation. The call gave the Bandits new life, as they responded with three consecutive goals – the first of which gave Smith the playoff points record.
Smith followed up the record-breaking assist with another, feeding Ian MacKay for his second goal of the game. Chase Fraser followed by pulling the same move and getting the same result, giving the Bandits a 5-4 lead.
HE’S FLYING! 💨#LetsGoBandits | @IanMacKay_94 pic.twitter.com/99KMlmLLMj
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) May 17, 2025
Saskatchewan took back momentum with back-to-back goals, but MacKay notched his third game to tie the score at 6-6 entering halftime.
“Ian’s smart enough to either set a pick for (Josh Byrne) or just get out of his way and eventually they’re going to slide to him and he’s going to be wide open,” Smith said. “He’s been shooting the ball at a high level and there was no doubt in my mind that he’s been able to play both ways.”
Much like the first quarter, Saskatchewan started the half out to a hurry, scoring two goals in 1:33. The Rush led 10-8 with when Smith began to turn the game in the Bandits’ favor, managing to fake out his man and covert on a 1-on-1 chance against goaltender Frank Scigliano. Buchanan tied the game, scooping up a net-front rebound and going airborne to score. Smith then gave the Bandits their second lead of the night by completing his hat trick, which sent the Bandits into the fourth quarter up 11-10.
He’s the Offensive Player of the Year for a reason! 😤#LetsGoBandits | @NLL pic.twitter.com/qBF9wFDoVe
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) May 17, 2025
“Being in the situation before, a lot of our core guys being there, and not panicking at all and knowing it’s a long game and they were going on their run early on and we were able to stop that and go on our run,” MacKay said. “It was a 6-6 game at half and they came out early in the second half and it took us a little bit to settle in but once we figured it out, it started to drop for us.”
When it mattered most in the fourth quarter, Matt Vinc showed up in a big way. Vinc stopped all eight of the shots he faced in the final 15 minutes to complete a 44-save performance.
The Bandits put the dagger in the game with an empty-net goal from Buchanan with 10.8 seconds left. Fittingly, it was Smith who got the assist to bring his team within a game of a championship.
“I think the next one is obviously the hardest and we have to make sure we show up from opening draw because they’re not just going to give it to us and we understand that,” Smith said. “We’re hungry, we’ve been in this position before. We’ve been on both sides of it where we’ve lost it and we’ve won it.”
GAME. 1. WIN. #LetsGoBandits | @NLL pic.twitter.com/i5vrbM71nK
— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) May 17, 2025