The Buffalo Bandits Get Burned Again

Buffalo Bandits were defeated for the second time by the Albany Firewolves, this time by a score of 10-13. There is something about the Firewolves that seem to give the Bandits problems, both emotionally and physically. I understand the Firewolves are now sitting at 8-2 and have established themselves as a top 5 team in the league. However, the Bandits are the reigning champions and should be able to defeat a team like this. They have been able to take down the 8-2 Toronto Rock and the 7-3 San Diego Seals. What is it about Albany that Buffalo cannot seem to figure out.

The offense was not great in this game. For the first time in seven games, and second time all year, the Bandits did not score at least 12 goals. It is hard to blame the offense for much with a run like that and being one of the better units in the league. In this game though they were not good enough. They hit posts, missed passes, and fired shots hard enough and wide enough to hit the glass and bounce out of play. Some of those shots came early in the shot clock when there was no need to rush a wild shot. There are a few things that could have resulted in the Bandits' poor play. Tehoka Nanticoke (1g, 0a, 7sog) was back from injury but did not look 100 percent. Cory Highfield (0g, 0a, 2sog) was playing in his first game as a Bandit and has only been with the team for a couple of days. Dhane Smith (0g, 6a, 11sog) realistically had a good game. His six assists led the team, which is impressive on only 10 goals scored. However, he had the second most shots on goal in the game and had no goals to account for it. I am not concerned about Smith but there is something going on with his shooting. Josh Byrne (3g, 3a, 15sog) and Chris Cloutier (2g, 3a, 4sog) both had great games. Brandon Robinson was injured for this game. There is a chance that caused a greater ripple effect for the offense than people are willing to admit. Sure, he does not put up a lot of points, but he causes chaos and disrupts the opposing defense to give other players room to score. I fully expect the offense to bounce back but this was sadly not the game for them to disappear.

This was one of the better defensive games we have seen in quite a while. Ian MacKay had mentioned that the team switched defensive systems in the middle of the week. It seems to have worked. The Bandits were able to consistently keep Albany to the outside. The only times they were able to get in tight on Devlin Shanahan was when they were on the penalty kill. Zach Belter played his first game in the NLL and looked like a seasoned pro. He was one of the best defenders on the field all game. His hustle and drive were quite noticeable. He is a physical presence and did not allow Albany to get inside. For his first game ever, it was impressive. Frank Brown, outside of the two penalties, also looked good for his first game in over a year and a half. The Bandits will have plenty of questions to answer when the team is healthy and less roster spots are available. Cudos to Justin Martin for having to defend off the unprovoked fight from Colton Watkinson, who decided to pick on one of the smallest defenders the Bandits have.

I think there were unrealistic expectations put on Devlin Shanahan in his first start ever. Plain and simple, Shanahan is not Matt Vinc, shocker. It was unfair to expect him to be anywhere near the level of play of arguably the greatest goalie in NLL history. Not only was it his first start in the NLL, he had to deal with a defensive unit that also had a few new players. Even though I thought the defense played well it was still a tough situation to step into. After breaking down some of the film, I thought Shanahan played as well as we should have expected him to play. Were there some goals he would likely want back? Absolutely, including the play behind the net where he lost the ball. However, he played well enough to give the team a chance to win and that is all you can ask of a backup goalie playing in his first start. He will learn from his mistakes and come back better next game.

The special team's unit was not good, again. The penalty kill allowed Albany to score on 4-of-8 opportunities. Coming into the game Albany had the league’s worst power play percentage converting only 20 percent of their chances. The Bandits allowed them to score on 50 percent of their opportunities. I am sure Shanahan did not help this situation and they allowed a goal on a 5-on-3 chance, but they need to be better. In the last three games the Bandits have allowed 12 goals on 18 power play opportunities for opposing teams. The power play unit for the Bandits did alright. They went 0-for-1 on the power play but did score twice on delayed penalties. In a way, you can say they scored on 2-of-3 opportunities.

We must talk about the insane number of penalties the Bandits took. I am not sure what it is about Albany that rubs the Bandits the wrong way, but they get under their skin far too easily. Just five minutes into the game with the Bandits leading 2-1, Priolo took a bad cross checking penalty. I don’t like it, but I can accept it. What it is hard to accept is the extra three dead ball fouls following the cross check by Priolo, MacKay and Nick Weiss. The Firewolves were not initiating any of these fights or contact, the Bandits wanted to flex their muscles and awarded Albany a 5-on-3 opportunity. Albany scored two goals on the power play to take the lead 3-2. The Bandits need to play like the champions they are. It should be a young scrappy team like Albany that is trying to get in the heads of the Bandits. However, it was Albany who remained calm and ended the game with eight power play opportunities because the Bandits could not keep their cool.

The Buffalo Bandits lost another close game to a good team. However, there is good news for the Bandits. The combined record of the teams they have played so far this season is 48-36. The combined record for teams they have yet to play is 34-43. They are done playing top teams in the league, outside of playing Toronto one more time. I am not saying they will not lose again, or these games will be easy, but they have a winnable schedule the rest of the season. They have every ability to right the ship and get back to the top of the standings. Making playoffs is most important, getting in the top four and earning a home game is next. The Bandits need to string some wins together or they could find themselves looking from the outside in come playoff time.

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.         

Doug Jamieson

Inside – 2

Mid-Range – 6

Outside – 2

Transition - 0

*0 of the goals were on the penalty kill

Devlin Shanahan

Inside – 3

Mid-Range – 5

Outside – 3

Transition - 2ish

*4 of the goals were on the penalty kill

1st goal – Walker is running across the face of goal, but it is an outside shot that Shanahan likely wants to have

2nd goal – PP goal – 5v3 for Albany, Kurtz had a low inside shot snuck through Shanahan

3rd goal – Direct from face off - PP goal – Kurtz got inside on the power play and had a fancy little trick shot

4th goal – PP goal – quick shot between Shanahan’s legs

5th goal – Well placed shot that goes off the post, off Shanahan and in

6th goal – PP goal – Shanahan lost site of the ball on a behind the back pass behind the net

7th goal – A great shot by Simmons right in the top corner

8th goal – Direct from face off – outside shot I think needs to be saved

9th goal – A good play by Albany faked the defense out with a dunk from behind the net

10th goal – Sulver was late to get hands on Kurtz but a shot that looked savable

11th goal – Shanahan a little slow to get over and goes down on a high shot but it went bar down, nice shot

12th goal – In a bit of transition no one has hands on Kurtz again who fires a hard shot that goes in

13th goal – Doug Jamieson goalie goal, empty netter

5/13 on Shanahan

2/13 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 – 0/1 on the PP

Albany – 4/8 on the PP

Steve Priolo – Cross Checking – The Albany players seem to go down a bit easy, but it worked to their advantage. Priolo clearly cross checked the player from behind – good call

Steve Priolo – Dead Ball Foul – Priolo started a pretty big brawl by doing some shoving in front of the Bandits bench – good call

Ian MacKay – Dead Ball Foul – MacKay wanted in on the action and went after Reid who did not fight back after MacKay threw a couple of punches – good call

Nick Weiss – Dead Ball Foul – Also wanted in on the action. His fighting is mainly off the screen, but he hits an Albany player in the face and then holds him trying to scrap – good call

Frank Brown – Checking from Behind – Pretty simple call for the refs – good call

Nick Weiss – Cross Checking – I am not sure what was being called here. Nick Weiss was physical on the play before, and I wonder if this was a makeup call because there was no cross check or even a cross checking motion – bad call

Steve Priolo – Dead Ball Foul – Turns out you cannot put a guy in a head lock and throw him to the ground – good call

Justin Martin – Fighting – Unfortunate fighting penalty from a guy who did not seem like he wanted to fight – meh call

Matt Spanger – Roughing – It looked like Spanger went to assist Martin with his fight and ended up in a fight of his own – good call

Steve Priolo – Checking from Behind – Another obvious call for the refs. The player Priolo hit wasn’t even near the play – good call – good call

Frank Brown – Checking from Behind – Another weak call but it was being called all night and the Bandits didn’t respond to it – goodish call

Cam Wyers – Slashing – I dont know why it was called slashing, but it was a foul at least for roughing – good call

10.5/12– good calls

While watching this game live as a fan in Banditland I thought the referees had a bad game. After going back and watching the game on replay with a cooler head, they did a pretty good job overall. I thought they had a few missed calls but for the most part got it right. My biggest issue with the referees was not calling an instigating penalty against Watkinson when he went after Martin. Martin was standing still with his back to Watkinson on the play. Watkinson came from half field, shoved Martin, grabbed his face, and began fighting him with Martin simply trying to defend himself. I thought the refs missed this opportunity to protect a player who was not interested in fighting and instead got caught up in the wild moment.