The Buffalo Bandits Devour the Philadelphia Wings
The Buffalo Bandits took care of business in front of 17,000+ fans at the Key Bank Center. The Bandits defeated the Wings by a score of 19 to 14. At half, they were up 13 to 5. However, the Wings never gave up pulling within three goals twice late in the game. The Bandits did what they do best though and clamped the game down late in the fourth quarter for their 5th straight win, increasing their record to 5-0.
I wish there was more to say about the offense that hasn’t been said already this season. The Bandits offense continued its streak of scoring at least 13 goals in every game this year. The two players who stuck out the most offensively in this game were Josh Byrne and Chase Fraser. Fraser has been struggling this season, but it hasn’t been for a lack of effort. Chase has been doing a lot of dirty work for the offense while trying to get his shot back in rhythm. It was great to see him break out a bit in this game scoring 3 goals and adding 4 assists for 7 points. Byrne scored a career-high 7 goals, while assisting on 5 others for a 12-point night. Prior to this game Byrne had been more of a set-up man this season and less of a goal scorer, scoring his first hat trick last game. Last season Byrne had a career high 82 assists. He also had a career high 53 goals. As great as Josh has become at dishing the ball, he is known for his goal scoring ability. Games like this are a nice reminder for the league that Josh can still score with the best of them, even if he is on pace to break Dhane Smith’s assist record (on pace for 104). Speaking of Smith, he quietly put up a 1 goal, 9 assist night adding 10 points to his season total. He is on pace to shatter his own assist record (on pace for 136) and his own single-season points record (on pace for 172). The dynamic duo has been as dynamic as ever to start the season. Finally, Chris Cloutier made his return to the lineup and added 2 goals and 2 assists of his own. The interesting thing about Cloutier’s return was that Clay Scanlan stayed in the lineup. The Bandits are a bit banged up on the back end giving them some freedom with the active roster, but it is clear Scanlan has made a strong early impression on the coaching staff.
The Bandits defense was going up against the second-best offense in the NLL. They were looking for a bit of a response after allowing a season high 14 goals against the Toronto Rock. Sadly, they allowed the same amount once again. The Bandits defense came out with a near flawless game plan in the first half holding the Wings to just 5 first half goals, and only 3 coming on even strength. The Wings did not score their first even strength goal until 8:40 left in the second quarter. The only real negative from the Bandits defense came on a six-goal run by Philly from the end of the third quarter through the start of the fourth. With the score at a comfortable 16-7 it appeared that the defense let off the intensity a bit too much. It is a good lesson to learn and a friendly reminder that the game isn’t over until it’s over. The defense, Matt Vinc and the Bandits ended up going on a 3 to 1 run to end the fourth quarter and lock down the victory. At first glance, Vinc allowing 14 goals may appear like he had a poor performance. However, I had only one, maybe two, goals that he would want back. Outside of that it was a combination of power plays, bad defense, and strong offense by Philadelphia. I thought Vinc had a nice bounce back performance after last week’s game. The defense is not going to want to make it a habit of allowing 14 goals a game, but the way they played in the first half, while dealing with injuries to Justin Martin and Zack Belter, is promising.
The penalty kill got punched in the mouth a bit in this game and I find that as a positive. It is easier to swallow poor play as a positive when it ends in a victory. The Wings went 3-for-3 on the power play and made it look easy. The Bandits penalty kill came into the game as the number one unit in the NLL. A game like this will only help in the long run as they can learn what made Philly so effective, and how to stop it in the future. The Bandits power play has been looking better and better as the season has gone along. They finished this game going 2-for-4, but if you count man up advantages (which should possibly be an extra stat), I believe they went closer to 5-for-7.
The NLL is currently a jumbled mess. The top teams in the league before the year are at the bottom, the bottom teams are at the top, and no one is separating themselves from contenders or pretenders. No one except the Bandits that is. Sure, the Wings were able to score 14 goals and keep the game close-ish. However, the Bandits never trailed in this game and held the lead for 57 minutes and 56 seconds against arguably the number two team in the league. Outside of Buffalo being far and away the best team in the league, I am not sure what is happening. What I do know is, this is a great time to be a Bandits fan.
P.S. - Go Bills!
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.
Combination of Deacan Knott/Nick Damude
Inside – 9
Mid-Range - 9
Outside – 1
Transition - 3
*2 goals were on the penalty kill
*0 empty net goals
Matt Vinc
Inside – 9
Mid-Range - 2
Outside – 3
Transition -
*3 of the goals were on the penalty kill
(D-Defense, V-Vinc)
Goal 1 – PP goal – good movement by Philly and a nice in tight bounce shot by Resetarits
Goal 2 – PP goal – once again good movement, Cattoni sucked the defense in with a fake shot from the point giving Riorden a free look at the side of the net for a quick stick goal
Goal 3 – Priolo stepped in front of Vinc while attempting to block the shot, it goes off Priolo, off Vinc and in, tough play but this is one Priolo needs to let Vinc do his job (D)
Goal 4 – Good pick by the Philly offense giving Resetarits just enough time and space to fire a great shot
Goal 5 – Leclair the extra attacker at the end of the half finds space for a quick goal
Goal 6 – Long shot by Cattoni, possible screen but one Vinc wants to save (V)
Goal 7 – PP goal – rebound off Vinc put in by Caputo before Vinc could react
Goal 8 – A pass ricocheted off a helmet and past Vinc, incredibly unlucky
Goal 9 – Simply a great play by a great player in Mitch Jones, but the defense needs to do better (D)
Goal 10 – Quick movement by the Philly offense had the defense chasing, good play by the offense and bad defense (D)
Goal 11 – Wyers played too far off his man and a quick shot by Caputo got past Vinc (D)
Goal 12 – The defense was slow to get on the field and the Wings took advantage (D)
Goal 13 – Defender fell giving Catoni the ability to step in and fire a hard well-placed shot
Goal 14 – Wyers loses the ball in the defensive zone, leading to a loose ball push against Buffalo, leading to Wyers not scooping up another loose ball, leading to a quick goal, aka bad defense (D)
1/14 on Vinc
6/14 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 – 2-4 on the PP
Wings – 3-3 on the PP
Tehoka Nanticoke – Roughing – it looked like Nanticoke may have gotten a bit up high on a player and the player sold it well – good call
Sam LaRoue – Holding – LaRoue did get caught holding but the player also used his arm to make sure LaRoue could not get his stick free, could have been called on both players, but wasn’t - good call
Sam LaRoue – Holding - I did not see much on this play – bad call
2/3 – good calls
I thought the referees did a nice job letting these two teams play. Last game, there was heavy and inconsistent policing of a big rivalry game. This week, they let the two highest scoring offenses battle it out on even strength while keeping the whistle in their pockets.