By: Brayden Peters
BUFFALO, N.Y. - In a rematch of the 2024 NLL Championship, the Buffalo Bandits once again came out on top against the Albany FireWolves on Saturday. Buffalo beat Albany 16-10 to remain undefeated after the Bandits pulled away in the fourth quarter to secure the victory. It's the fourth time in franchise history that Buffalo started a season 6-0.
The Bandits went into the final quarter of play up only 11-8 as the FireWolves started to mount a comeback. Right out of the gates, Buffalo would break Albany's streak of four unanswered goals with two unanswered goals of their own with 12:12 left in the frame.
FireWolves forward Ethan Walker would help Albany respond to cut the lead to four. While on the power play, Walker fired a sidearm left-handed shot into the bottom right corner of the cage to record a hat trick.
The Bandits would go on to score three unanswed goals afterwards to put the game out of reach. Although FireWolves forward John Piatelli scored on a sidearm right handed shot with 1:24 left in the game, it wasn't enough time for Albany to pull off the comeback.
"We knew from last year, it was the same type of game in the championship against them we had a great start and they were very resilient coming back," Bandits head coach John Tavares said. "I think they did it twice. I reminded the team about the Philly comeback as well. I thought we did a good job with the exception of the beginning of the third quarter where they scored three or four goals in a row, but then we answered back in the fourth. It's tough to maintain a large lead, especially when you're short-handed for that much time."
Buffalo forwards Josh Byrne (five + five) and Dhane Smith (three + seven) both recorded a team-high 10 points in the victory. With his performance, Byrne now has 21 goals this season. He came into the game after posting 12 points (seven + five) against the Philadelphia Wings on Saturday, Jan. 18. His 12 points and seven goals tie career highs for him in a game.
"My teammates are doing a great job moving bodies, creating space, drawing doubles, moving the ball," Byrne said. "It's making my job really easy...when you have in my eyes the best passer in the world [Smith] on your team, you're going to get looks...I'm super grateful to play with Dhane, but the rest of our group is just buzzing around, super tough to guard one-on-one, moving the ball and play unselfish, it's hard to stop them."
Matt Vinc got the start in net for the Bandits. He recorded 38 saves for a 79.2 save percentage.
Although Buffalo was on the penalty kill nine times in the game, they killed off five of the FireWolves' power plays.
History was made for the Bandits as transition player Nick Weiss hit the 100 mark for career assists and Vinc became the first goalie in NLL history to have over 16,000 career minutes played.
The FireWolves drew first blood to start the game. With 12:47 left in the first quarter, forward Ethan Walker found the five-hole on a left-handed shot while Albany was on the power play.
It didn't take long for the Bandits to respond and even take the lead as they scored twice in a span of 34 seconds with 11:21 left in the frame.
The FireWolves didn't allow Buffalo to extend their lead as they tied the game up a little over a minute later. Forward Carson Moyer fired a left-handed shot past Vinc while Moyer was falling in front of the crease.
Buffalo's offense found openings towards the crease and were able to get their forwards to cut there. However, they were unable to capitalize on multiple scoring chances for a few minutes.
With 5:04 left, the Bandits finally capitalized on their scoring chances from near the crease. Defenseman Matt Spangler cut to the crease and fired a right-handed shot into the bottom right corner of the cage for his first goal of the season. Weiss picked up an assist on the goal.
Buffalo carried the momentum from Spanger's goal, scoring three more unanswered goals to take a 6-2 lead with 2:41 left in the quarter. After the goal, FireWolves goalie Doug Jamieson was pulled in favor of Andrew Kidd.
Albany was able to sneak away with one more goal before the end of the frame to cut the lead in half. Forward Alex Simmons tip-toed his way to the crease and while falling, he found the top right corner of the net on a right-handed shot.
At the end of the first quarter of play, the Bandits had outshot the FireWolves 16-to-12.
Buffalo got straight back to work to start the second frame as they scored two unanswered goals. Albany was able to respond with 7:54 left in the quarter. Forward Ty Kurtz rifled a left-handed shot into the top right corner of the cage while he was set up backdoor.
The Bandits came back with two more unanswered goals before the end of the half to go up 10-4. Both teams were tied in shots on goal in the second quarter with 15 apiece.
Buffalo opened up the third quarter with fast passing and off-ball movement that allowed them to move to Kidd's crease with ease. This paid off as forward Chase Fraser got towards the net and fired a right-handed behind-the-back shot into the bottom left corner of the cage.
This would be the last time the Bandits would score in the quarter as the FireWolves went on to score four unanswerd goals and outshoot Buffalo 11-to-nine in the frame. Albany exposed openings in the Bandits' defense while Kidd held his own in net, recording eight saves.
"It is tough," Smith said. "Instead of walking away with it, we kind of let them back in it. When things have been going so great...you take a little bit off the gas and you're a little bit too relaxed instead of keep going and playing our game."
Buffalo would find their rhythm again, though, in the fourth quarter to secure the win. They buried five goals and played tighter near the crease on defense.
"I thought in the first half they were getting into our crease area untouched and I had to remind the guys 'that can't happen'," Tavares said. "So guys like Paul [Dawson] protecting our crease and goalie like that, it says to the other team 'we don't want you in this area.' So, it's important to protect the middle of the floor and that crease area is a big part of it."
The Bandits tied the FireWolves in shots on goal with 14 apiece.
Buffalo stays in first in the NLL with the win. As for the FireWolves, the loss dropped them to 2-7 and they remain in last in the league.
The Bandits will hit the road to take on the Toronto Rock on Friday, Feb. 14. Face-off is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Comentarios