Buffalo Bandits Look Good Losing

The Buffalo Bandits lost a close game to the Georgia Swarm 8-9 on Friday night. It was Buffalo’s first loss in their last seven home games. People like to call lacrosse a game of runs. In this game, the Bandits biggest run went for three goals, the Swarms largest run went for four goals, the Swarm won by one. Despite the score I thought the Bandits were the better team in this game.

The story of the Bandits offense was about a player who isn’t on the Bandits. Georgia goalie Brett Dobson held the Bandits offense to only eight goals on 54 shots. Three of those goals were on the power-play. The offense did a nice job getting inside looks, breakaways on transition and a few nice outside looks. A few of the shots could have been better as the Bandits offense hit the post and shot a few into Dobson’s chest but the opportunities were there. As weird as it sounds, this was the best-looking game from the Bandits offense. In the first two games the Bandits settled for too many outside shots. In this game they were getting some incredible inside looks, however, Dobson had an answer in most of those situations. In the second half, I would have liked to see Brandon Robinson get a few more shifts on offense. Despite getting a few great looks, Byrne looked frustrated throughout the game. I thought Robinson could have created more chances for Byrne by setting a few hard picks. Robinson also had success last year with the pick and roll and scoring inside chances himself. If the Bandits can repeat this performance on offense, they are almost guaranteed to score more goals next time.

The defense and Matt Vinc played great all game. Twice this season the Swarm have scored at least 15 goals. The Swarm finished last season scoring at least 10 goals in their final nine games. Their offense is fast and lethal, yet the Bandits were able to keep them contained. I mentioned in our pre-game breakdown that I thought Shane Jackson was going to have a breakout game sooner than later and that is just what he did scoring a team high four goals and seven points. The Swarm only had three players score goals all night. On one hand, that is a positive, on the other hand the Bandits were not able to find a way to shut down Jackson and Lyle Thompson as the game went on. Most of the time, if the defense can hold the opposition to under 10 goals, the Bandits will get the win. This was not one of those times but outside of a couple of soft goals allowed by Vinc, the team played well.

The special team's unit had one of their best all-around games of the year. The Bandits were able to score on 75% of their powerplay opportunities. Chase Fraser scored two of the three goals on the powerplay while Chris Cloutier had the other. I wonder if this will lead to more chances for Fraser at the point of the powerplay formation. As for the penalty kill, the Bandits were able to hold the dangerous Swarm offense to only one goal on four powerplay opportunities. This included a 5-on-3 penalty kill that led to an abbreviated 5-on-4. It is not an easy task for a defense to hold strong on a 5-on-3 penalty in the NLL and it was a timely kill in the game.

The more I write this article the more I realize this was arguably the Bandits best game of the year. The offense was able to generate high quality opportunities and 54 shots. The defense and Vinc held the Swarm to only 42 shots and nine goals against. The power play and penalty kill were both 3-of-4 in their opportunities. The biggest negative the Bandits had was Nick Weiss getting three breakaway opportunities and not scoring on one of them. The Bandits did not win this game, but they looked good losing it.

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.

Brett Dobson

Inside – 2

Middle - 3

Outside – 3

*3 of the goals were on the power play

Matt Vinc

Inside – 1

Middle - 4

Outside – 4

*1 of the goals was on the penalty kill

Goal 1 – Long shot Vinc looked upset he missed it, bit of an incidental screen by Priolo

Goal 2 – Long bounce shot, should have been stopped

Goal 3 – Lyle Thompson in tight, tough to stop

Goal 4 – Great offensive play, quick stick goal from the middle of the field

Goal 5 – PP goal, nice mid-range low shot

Goal 6 – Thompson just snuck it past Vinc as it rolled slowly over the line

Goal 7 – Thompson long bounce show but accurate and tough to stop

Goal 8 – Cross field pass, shot back across Vinc, great play

Goal 9 – Long shot around a defender but in a big moment, gotta have it

3/9 on Vinc

1/9 on the defense

Vinc finished the game with 33 saves. Vinc was able to make plenty of tight big saves. There are a few I am sure he would want back but that will happen in most games. The defense could have done a better job locking down Thompson and Jackson, but they are at the top of the league for a reason.

The offense had plenty of tight opportunities, but Dobson played one of the best games of his young career.

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 – 3-4 on the PP

Halifax – 1-4 on the PP

Nick Weiss – Checking from Behind – This call was debatable. From the referee's vantage point, I could see why he would make the call, but Weiss had his stick down and simply bumped into Jackson full speed – I don’t like it but from where the referee was, it was a goodish call

Carter McKenzie – Holding – McKenzie did not seem to argue this one, but it was hard to see what he did. He got the Georgia player in a bit of a headlock as the player tried to set a pick on McKenzie, I did not think there was much here, but it was a minor hold...I guess – goodish call

Emerson Clark – Cross Checking – This was the cross-checking major that was reduced to a minor – good call

Matt Spanger – Cross Checking – It wasn’t the most aggressive cross-check ever but because the Georgia player was in the air it looked worse than I think it was, but it was a cross-check – good call

3/4 – good calls

The refs overall called a good game. They let the teams play, which is what we like to see. The biggest concern I had with the referees and the league moving forward was the major call on Clark and lack of call on the hit against Tehoka Nanticoke. Moving forward, I would like to see the league call more major penalties if it is close, take the time to review it, and get the call right. In this game, I thought the referees had the calls reversed. The hit against Nanticoke should have been called a major and was not. The cross-check delivered by Clark was not a major but was called one and reduced.