Buffalo Bandits Have the Luck of the Irish
The Buffalo Bandits once again defeated the Toronto Rock at home, this time by a score of 14-12. The Bandits are now 8-1 in their last 9 home games against the Rock. This game was as intense of a game as you could have asked for between two bitter rivals. The Bandits found themselves down 6-9 at half and 10-12 late in the fourth quarter. The Bandits found a way to battle back against one of the best goalies, defenses, and teams in the league. It was a complete team effort that led to this victory.
The offense finished the game with fourteen goals and thirteen against Nick Rose (13ga, 40sv). The last time these two teams met the Bandits were able to score fourteen goals against Rose. Why is this important? The Toronto Rock defense and Nick Rose have averaged only 9.46 goals against per game which is number one in the league. The Bandits did have a long stretch run of over 24 plus minutes without scoring a goal. The team stuck to their game plan. The Rock were one of the best fourth quarter teams in the league with an impressive plus-29 goal differential. In this game, the Bandits outscored Toronto 6-2 in the fourth quarter, including a four-goal run to end the game. The dynamic duo of Dhane Smith (3g, 4a, 7sog) and Josh Byrne (2g, 5a, 14sog) led the team once again but in different ways. Byrne was able to come through with two goals and four assists in the second half, including the game winning goal. Smith led the team with three goals and, arguably even more impressive, three caused turnovers. As much as I do not like how much Smith is playing on defense, he is playing exceptionally well. The other aspect of the offense that was massive in this game was the transition game. Ian MacKay (2g, 1a, 2sog) was able to score the first goal of the game shorthanded on a great quick whistle transition play by Nick Weiss. Dylan Robinson (1g, 1a, 1sog) used a good pass from MacKay and a nice pick set by Zach Belter to score his second goal of the season. These two first quarter transition goals helped the Bandits stay in the game while the team settled in. A milestone side note that was not mentioned enough, Dhane Smith now has the franchise record in points against the Toronto Rock with 190 points! That is quite a lot of points in general, let alone against one team.
The defense was a bit tough to break down. First, they finally stopped their streak of allowing at least thirteen goals in a game! However, when looking at the goals against, I had the defense being the cause of five goals. That is a bit higher than usual, but I thought the defense played well. Something we must keep in mind is how different this roster currently looks, especially on defense. You can go right down the list of new faces who were not a big part of the team last year. Cam Wyers, Paul Dawson, Emerson Clark, Sam La Roue, Connor Farrell, Zach Belter, and Cory Highfield are all players that did not have much, if any, playing time on the team last year. Of those players, six of them are defense or transition players. That is a lot of new faces all trying to mesh on the same team at the same time. One player that gelled almost immediately in his first game as a Buffalo Bandits was Paul Dawson. I’ll be honest, for a team that is buried in the middle of a playoff race, I did not think Dawson would be the answer to their problems. Steve Dietrich mentioned that he was doing everything he could to get an elite defender but to get top talent in the league, you need to give up top talent and for the Bandits, that was not an option. Dawson finished his first game leading the team in blocked shots with three, had four loose balls and tied for second on the team in caused turnovers with two. For a player who only just arrived, those are great numbers. The other thing he brings, which I was also not looking for at the trade deadline, is veteran leadership. With rookies like Cam Wyers and Zach Belter, another top veteran defender to communicate and settle the play down on the back end could pay off big for the Bandits moving forward. Matt Vinc finished the game with 47 saves including a few big saves late in the fourth quarter. One of the saves was on a 2-on-1 chance for Toronto that immediately turned into a transition goal for Buffalo. Nick Rose and his impressive stats throughout the season was the story headed into the game. The play of Matt Vinc was the story when the game was finished.
Neither special team's unit performed as well as you would have liked. The penalty kill allowed 4-of-8 opportunities to go in. The Toronto offense is not usually known as a lethal one but this season, with the addition of Mark Mathews, they have been as good as any in the league. They were able to show that off on their power play chances. One of the power play goals that Toronto scored I thought Vinc should have been able to save. Another one, Wyers did not play particularly well. Toronto had a couple of great set-ups on the other two. As far as the Bandits power play goes, it is a lot trickier than the numbers show. The Bandits on paper went 1-for-6 on the power play. Their first power play lasted forty seconds before the Bandits were called for a penalty. Thier second power play was broken up by half time. The third power play went for a full two-minutes and included a forty second 5-on-3 opportunity. The second power play on the 5-on-3 opportunity was cut short again by a Bandits penalty. The Bandits finished the game with a 5-minute power play that they were finally able to score on. They also scored just moments after the power play had ended. I also thought they had plenty of good chances on the power play despite not scoring. Again, on paper, 1-for-6 looks terrible, but when you break it down it doesn’t look quite as bad.
Another thing that doesn’t look as bad when you break it down are the faceoff numbers. Once again, on paper, Connor Farrell went 9-for-31 on faceoffs. He started the game poorly. We would find out after the game in the press conference that he had a fever and almost did not start in the game. Not only did he play, but he was able to adjust at half time and finished the game strong. On the final fourteen faceoffs of the game Farrell and the Bandits ended up winning six of them and losing eight. They started the game by winning only three of the first seventeen faceoffs. Farrell also won the final faceoff allowing the Bandits to ice the game.
This was a massive win by the Buffalo Bandits. The Bandits are in the middle of a heated playoff race, not a spot they have been in for quite a while. They were going up against a bitter rival who is number one in the league, and they rose to the occasion, pun intended. The Bandits have every opportunity to run the table and just maybe get themselves in a top four position to finish the season. The Bandits have one of, if not the best, offense in the league. If the Bandits defense can get healthy, including the return of Adam Bomberry and the addition of Paul Dawson, look out. It’s game on!
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 – 9
Mid-Range - 4
Outside – 0
*1 of the goals was on the penalty kill
Matt Vinc
Inside – 4
Mid-Range - 3
Outside – 5
*4 of the goals were on the penalty kill
1st goal – Nice bounce shot after a quick pass across the floor
2nd goal – Schreiber running left to right has a great outside shot
3rd goal – The Bandits had multiple offensive players playing defense and it allowed a nice shot by Dawick. Vinc looked like he was guessing or leaning a bit, but it was a good shot as well.
4th goal – This one initially looked like it was on Vinc but Belter ran right in front of him as the shot was released. Belter was trying to cut across to get to the player he was defending. Unfortunate play.
5th goal – PP goal - Tough rebound goal off a defender that just squeaks through
6th goal – A nice shot by Small between two Bandits defenders
7th goal – PP goal – It was an impressive set up and quick stick shot
8th goal – This was not good defense. Dawson got caught flat footed with no support behind him. Small had an easy lane to the net.
9th goal – PP goal – Wyers has been caught on the power play doing this multiple times now. He will learn, but this one is on him. Instead of attacking Small he attempted to block the shot as Small inched his way closer with multiple fakes before burying the goal.
10th goal – PP goal – This was an outside shot with a clear look for Vinc, he should have had it. Mathews did have a good chance because of the power play to have a free look, however I thought Vinc should have had it.
11th goal – Ian MacKay missed the pass right over his head as Boushy slammed it home right on the crease.
12th goal – It looked like Vinc would have made the save but Priolo stepped in to try to stop the shot as well and got in Vinc’s way. The defense often attempts to make saves, but this was not the time to do it.
2/12 on Vinc
5/12 on the defense
Challenges by the Bandits – 0
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 – 1/6 on the PP
Toronto – 4/8 on the PP
Steve Priolo – Slashing – This was a bit unfortunate for Priolo. I am going to give Priolo the benefit of the doubt and assume he thought the player he slashed still had the ball after a loose ball scrum. The player did not have the ball making the slash at the player and his stick illegal – good call
Dhane Smith – Goalie Interference – There was not a ton of contact here, but it was well played by Nick Rose. He is a veteran goaltender that knows how to draw a penalty if a player is going to crash the crease – good call
Tavares? – Bench Minor Unsportsmanlike Conduct – Highfield ended up serving the penalty, but the penalty was not on him. I believe the penalty was on John Tavares for complaining about the call, but I cannot be sure – good call
Kyle Buchanan – Tripping – Another tough play. It was not an intentional trip by Buchanan, but the player was tripped up on transition – good call
Steve Priolo – Cross Checking – This one was iffy. Craig ducked his head to try to dip around Priolo as Priolo laid a cross check. It was not a heavy cross check. It did hit Craig in the head, but Craig was ducking low to get around Priolo. Tough play but I can see it both ways – good call
Zach Belter – Holding – I think had Belter’s stick not got caught on Schreiber's helmet it would not have been a penalty, but it did. Schreiber made a nice move to get around Belter and Belter did what he had to do to stop the in tight opportunity – good call
Chris Cloutier – Holding – This was sold well by Toronto, but it came shortly after Dhane Smith sold a great holding call of his own. It was simply how tight the game was being called – good call
Kyle Buchanan? – Illegal Substitution – The Bandits were quite confused on this play. There was not a good replay of this call, and it was hard to see but I am going to go with Buchanan who is a veteran and does not make many mistakes – bad call
7/8 – good calls
The referees called an even game. The Toronto Rock did a nice job selling a couple of penalties early in the game. The Bandits adjusted and sold a few penalties of their own. There were no calls in a important and tight fourth quarter. I thought the refs had a good game overall.