Bandits Remove Rock from the Postseason Again
The Buffalo Bandits swept the Toronto Rock for the third straight post-season. It is also the eighth straight post-season win against them. This year there was one blowout win and one win that needed an epic comeback. The Rock were coming off the best season in the history of their franchise and still could not get a win against the Bandits.
The Bandits offense was interesting to watch through the two games. In game one, three of the first four Bandits goals were scored in transition. In game two, the offense was quiet until the fourth quarter and went long periods of time without scoring a goal. The Rock have one of the best defenses and goalies in the NLL. Even though the Bandits have a great offense, it is no surprise that they struggled a bit to find as much success as they had in the regular season. On the flip side, which I will go over more later, the Rock were the third highest scoring team in the NLL and also struggled to find success. Last year, the offense was high flying and blew past the competition. This year, across the NLL the playoffs have been low scoring intense games. Against the Georgia Swarm it was Josh Byrne who put the team on his back and Dhane Smith getting six assists to lead the team to victory. Against the Rock, it was the secondary scoring that shined brightest. In game one Kyle Buchanan, Chase Fraser and Brandon Robinson combined for seven goals. In game two Tehoka Nanticoke, Fraser and Buchanan combined for six goals. This isn’t to say that Byrne and Smith did not perform well. Between the two games Byrne had three goals and eight assists, while Dhane had three goals and seven assists. However, they took a combined thirty-five shots and only scored five goals. When the goals weren’t falling for the dynamic duo, the rest of the team was able to step up in multiple ways to help carry the load. That is how championship teams win.
Defense wins championships. I don’t know if that was necessarily true for the Bandits last year. However, this year it could not be truer. In game one the Bandits had the game winning goal in the first half as the defense and Matt Vinc held Toronto to only four goals in the game. In game two, it was once again the defense allowing the offense time to find a way to crawl back into the game and eventually win it. The six-goal run by the offense in game two was fantastic. However, if the defense and Vinc allowed even a single goal during the six-goal run we may have seen a different outcome in the game. After allowing six goals in the first half, the defense allowed only two more goals the rest of the game. The defense has done an incredible job with caused turnovers and blocked shots this postseason. Between the two games the Bandits blocked 23 shots and had 14 caused turnovers. I have talked a lot about how “smothering” the defense has been recently, and these are the numbers that prove it. Vinc has obviously been a massive part of the Bandits success so far in the playoffs. In the two games against the Rock, Vinc finished with 104 saves on 116 shots for an incredible 89.6 save percentage. Earlier in the year we talked about how Vinc was playing well but wasn’t making the big saves we were used to seeing him make. Since the defensive unit has been steady Vinc has been steady with them making highlight reel saves multiple times a game.
The special teams have not been talked about enough. The Bandits have found themselves in a lot of penalty trouble in the playoffs. Some of it has been warrented and some of it has been questionable. The penalty kill unit has done a great job keeping the Bandits in the game. Through the two games the penalty kill allowed only 4 goals on 14 opportunities for a penalty kill percentage of 71.5. The Bandits allowed Toronto too many powerplay chances, but the penalty kill was there to shut the door. One of the powerplay goals by Toronto was scored when Paul Dawson was in the box. Dawson was an incredible addition by Steve Dietrich at the trade deadline. He has not only improved the Bandits penalty kill but has also improved the defense as a whole. The powerplay for the Bandits did not have many opportunities in this series, but they made the most of it. The powerplay unit scored three times on five chances for an impressive 60 percent conversion rate. The three goals don’t exactly pop off the stat sheet but when the powerplay was given the opportunity they performed well.
The Bandits once again find a way to sweep the Rock and head to their fourth straight finals appearance. Three years ago, the Bandits defeated Toronto by just a few seconds. Last year, there was not much of a fight. This year, it was a little bit of both. The Bandits have an opportunity to win back-to-back championships for the first time in the NLL since the Rush did it back in 2015 and 2016. The Albany Firewolves will not be easy to get past. They are a young team that has quickly gained confidence and experience in the playoffs. The penalties that have followed the Bandits throughout the playoffs is what worries me the most about the upcoming series. However, there is plenty of time, with a week off, to dissect the next series. For now, the Bandits are headed back to the finals!
Game One
Goaltender Breakdown
In this segment, I will breakdown how the goalies, offense and defense all performed on the goals in the game. How many were impressive goals, breakdowns in the defense or on the goalie.
Nick Rose
Inside – 2
Mid-Range - 6
Outside –
Transition - 3
*2 of the goals were on the penalty kill
Troy Holowchuk
Inside – 2
Mid-Range -
Outside – 1
Empty Net - 1
Matt Vinc
Inside –
Mid-Range - 4
Outside –
*1 of the goals was on the penalty kill
1st goal – A transition goal on the penalty kill. A big save by Rose led to a 2-on-1 transition opportunity that J. Martin buried for Toronto.
2nd goal – Schreiber scored a nice goal on a bit of a transition play. Justin Martin overran Schreiber when trying to slide over to him. I am not sure what he was doing on the play.
3rd goal – Great initial save by Vinc, nice second save by Vinc as well but the ball just barely crept over the line
4th goal – PP goal – Small snuck one low and hard past Vinc, good shot
0/4 on Vinc
1/4 on the defense
Challenges by the Bandits – None
Referee Corner
Like many of the fans out there, I find myself often questioning what the refs are doing on the field. From no goals and players being ejected, to calls that simply do not make sense. In this segment, I will attempt to use the rulebook and my best judgement to understand some hot topics from the previous game.
Bandits – 2/3 on the PP
Toronto – 1/8 on the PP
Chase Fraser – Goalie Interference – This was a bad call. Fraser did not dive at Nick Rose. Rose sold the contact well and Fraser was also shoved from behind into Rose, if you want to call it that – bad call
Paul Dawson – Slashing – Another weak call in my opinion. Dawson did take a slash, but he hit the player's stick, not his hands and it was not violent. You see similar kinds of slashes a lot throughout the game – bad call
Zach Belter – Roughing – The best I can tell it looks like Belter takes a bit of a punch at the Toronto player while his hand is still on his stick and misses the hit. It seems like a tight call, but it wasn’t technically wrong – good call
Chase Fraser – Delay of Game – There was an illegal pick call on the play. Fraser not only took his time dropping the ball but rolled the ball backwards which you cannot do – good call
Steve Priolo – Cross Checking – Priolo gets the player up high with the head of his stick – good call
Tehoka Nanticoke – Checking from Behind – Nanticoke lightly pushed the Rock player with one hand on his stick from behind – awful call
Cam Wyers – Cross Checking – Wyers got up high on Boushy who absolutely sold the penalty launching himself to the ground, but it was a penalty – good call
5-minute Major Calls
The 5-minute major reduction on the hit against Dhane Smith was the correct call. The first point of contact was his shoulder and then the stick swung around and hit Smith in the face. The league is taking a close look at what the main point and first point of contact is on a hit like this. I thought the 5-minute major on Wyers was a bit questionable, but the first point and main point of contact was the head which the league is trying to eliminate.
4/7 – good calls
The referees called this game too tight against Buffalo. It is not great to call eight penalties and have almost half of them not be good calls. A few of the calls were correct, but a few of them were simply not good calls. I will give the refs credit for calling Boushy in the crease on the Schrieber goal. That was a massive turning point in the game and if the call on the field is a goal, the Bandits do not have the chance to score themselves. The challenge against Josh Byrne also went the Bandits way with the inconclusive call.
Game Two
Goaltender Breakdown
In this segment, I will breakdown how the goalies, offense and defense all performed on the goals in the game. How many were impressive goals, breakdowns in the defense or on the goalie.
Nick Rose
Inside – 2
Mid-Range - 8
Outside –
*1 of the goals was on the penalty kill
Matt Vinc
Inside – 4
Mid-Range - 4
Outside –
*3 of the goals were on the penalty kill
1st goal – Bomberry allowed Boushy too much time and space to shoot. It looked like he was preparing to be hit or preparing for a switch off, neither of which were there.
2nd goal – This was a strange goal. Priolo and Vinc were watching Craig who was behind the net and somehow beat both on a dunk attempt.
3rd goal – PP goal – good movement by Toronto to set up Small who is great on the power play.
4th goal – PP goal – Mathews steps into a hard shot that Vinc couldn’t quite squeeze, and it snuck past both defenders set up to block.
5th goal – PP goal – Priolo and Weiss got a little turned around by nicely set picks. It allowed Schreiber to step in and pick his shot.
6th goal - I am not sure what Priolo was doing on this play but Small ran right by him and beat Vinc.
7th goal - Bit of a broken play on a transition loose ball and the defense loses Weier who beats Vinc
8th goal - Mathews was a llowed a bit too much space to shoot and just squeaks one past Vinc
0/8 on Vinc
2/8 on the defense
Challenges by the Bandits – 1/1
The Bandits challenged a crease dive goal by Toronto that was correctly overturned to be disallowed.
Referee Corner
Like many of the fans out there, I find myself often questioning what the refs are doing on the field. From no goals and players being ejected, to calls that simply do not make sense. In this segment, I will attempt to use the rulebook and my best judgement to understand some hot topics from the previous game.
Bandits – 1/2 on the PP
Toronto – 3/6 on the PP
Ian MacKay – Holding - There was some embellishment by Mathews on this play, but it was hard not to call – good call
Justin Martin – Cross Checking - This call was completely off the broadcast, so I am not sure.
Brandon Robinson – Boarding – I thought this call was a bit touchy. If they wanted to call interference and give Toronto possession of the ball, that’s fine. To call boarding when a player is pushed into the boards from the side seems a bit touchy – bad call
Ian MacKay – Cross Checking – This was clearly a cross check. It may have been embellished again, but there was no reason for MacKay to do it. I am not sure if the major should have been upheld or not. It looked close either way – good call
Paul Dawson – Unsportsmanlike Conduct – Paul knows what he did on this one. He lightly slashed Boushy and Boushy slashed him back. Often it is the second man in who is caught, unfortunately for Dawson they took both players – good call
Cam Wyers – Holding – The broadcast did not have a great look at this one and no replay. Mathews seemed to lose his stick easily after getting tangled up with Wyers. From the refs standpoint I can see why they called it – good call
5/6 – good calls
The referees called a better game in game two. It is rough to see the Bandits still charged with six penalties, but I had most of them being the correct call.