Powerhouse Teams Collide…With No Fireworks
The Buffalo Bandits once again snuck past their opponent, defeating the San Diego Seals 7-6 in overtime. This game was lined up to be an exciting offensive matchup to watch but it ended up being the goalies and defense that stepped up for both teams. My co-host and I predicted a high scoring game and got the far end of the other spectrum.
The defense and Matt Vinc played an incredible game. Vinc finished the night with 49 saves and rebounded just as he always seems to do after playing a not so great game. The Bandits needed every one of his saves to win the game. The defense also played well against the league’s best offense and one of the top power play units. The Seals went 1 for 4 on the man advantage. This was a major key for the Bandits in a game that came down to overtime. Steve Priolo continues to play a high level of defense and was our first star of the game. Priolo finished the game with 13 loose balls, 3 blocked shots, 2 caused turnovers and the game winning overtime goal. It does not get much better than that.
The offense looks out of sync. Fraser was a last minute scratch due to an injury in warm-ups. However, the offense has been without Fraser all season. Players like Josh Byrne and Dhane Smith are continuing to find ways to be productive. It is the secondary scoring that we have seen take quite a hit. The right side of the offense has been missing Tehoka Nanticoke for weeks now and the left side has been missing Brandon Robinson as well. At some point, there cannot be excuses. The Bandits were able to score 16 goals, 13 goals and 13 goals all without Chris Cloutier and Josh Byrne. I am by no means saying that those two players hurt the offense, but it is clearly not gelling together as quickly as we thought it would upon their return. The last four games the Bandits are averaging 8.75 goals for per game. That kind of stat is not going to allow you to win games against teams like the Toronto Rock. It is hard to argue with a team sitting at 11-3 but the offense needs to find a way to score more than 10 goals a game.
Sadly, there is not much to say about a low scoring, low penalty, and very strange type of game. Both teams have a lot of offensive talent but it was the goalies and defense that really shined through. Dave Buchanan tweeted that this was the lowest scoring victory in Bandits history. If that doesn’t tell you everything about this game, I do not know what does. Once again, Buffalo finds a way to get another victory. This entire season could look very different if Buffalo was not 4-1 in games decided by one goal. If one were to flip that script, Buffalo could easily be looking at an 8-6 record. The offense needs to find a new gear and find it fast or else these games may be the end of me.
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.
Frank Scigliano
Inside – 3
Outside – 4
*2 of the goals were on the penalty kill
Matt Vinc
Inside – 2
Outside – 4
*1 of the goals was on the penalty kill
Goal 1 – PP goal, an outside shot by Dickson just squeaks past Vinc
Goal 2 – Good power move by Staats to get inside, good goal
Goal 3 – Great outside shot that hit the inside of the pipe and in
Goal 4 – Another great outside shot around a screen
Goal 5 – Outside bounce screen shot, tough for Vinc to see
Goal 6 –Dunk goal from behind the net, these seem tough to stop because players do it every week
0/6 on Vinc
Vinc finished the game with 49 saves and rebounded well from last week. I said I expected a big bounce back performance but only allowing six goals against the league’s top offense is beyond expectations.
The offense just looks off. Frank Scigliano played well coming up big when he needed to. The Bandits ability to score from the outside and inside was even in this game, hopefully that is a good sign of things to come.
Challenges 0
The Bandits did not challenge any plays in this game.
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 – 2-4 on the PP
Halifax – 1-4 on the PP
Unknown – Illegal Substitution – I believe I counted six Bandits on the floor at one point after watching this play about ten times – good call
Bryce Sweeting – Cross Checking – Sweeting gave a solid cross check to the player running across the front of the goal, both refs flagged it immediately - good call
Matt Spanger – Slashing – The Seals player turned right as Spanger went to slash the stick, he ended up getting all body instead. I think this call could have gone either way, but I don’t hate it – good call
Unknown – Illegal Substitution – Dhane Smith ran out just a smidge early, but he was early – good call
4/4 – good calls
This is a game where I thought the refs allowed the Bandits to get away with a lot. They only called a combined eight fouls on both teams. Two of the Bandits four penalties were illegal substitutions, therefore they only had two actual infractions. After re-watching the game, I think the Bandits could have been called for a lot more but I am happy the refs let the teams battle it out instead.