Bandits drop second straight after fourth quarter struggle
- Brayden Peters
- Mar 30
- 5 min read
By: Brayden Peters
BUFFALO, N.Y. - For the first time this season, the Buffalo Bandits are on a multi-game losing streak as they fell short to the Vancouver Warriors 13-12. Buffalo came in off a 11-10 overtime loss to the Albany FireWolves on March 22.
"It could be one game or losing 10 games in a row, it sucks, the situation we're in right now," Bandits transition player Ian MacKay said. "I saw a stat in the beginning before the game and JT (Bandits head coach John Tavares) mentioned it, we're 7-0 to start the year and we're 4-4 (in our last eight games). Obviously not where we wanted to be, especially going into the playoffs, but the good thing about that is we got three games going in and we know we're in a playoff spot...we got to take a look in the mirror here and hopefully we can regroup and have a better showing in Colorado."
Although Buffalo scored four unanswered across the third and fourth quarters to take an 11-9 lead with 9:02 remaining in the contest, Vancouver stormed right back.
"They capitalized on their opportunities," Bandits head coach John Tavares said. "I thought we were pretty good, but we can't be taking stupid penalties..."
The Warriors would score four unanswered goals to take a 13-11 lead with 4:01 left in the quarter. Their third goal scored by forward Adam Charalambides was on the power play. This came after Bandits defenseman Dylan Robinson took a five minute penalty for an illegal cross check.
Buffalo did find some life less than a minute later. Forward Chris Cloutier did a behind-the-back pass to MacKay who was all alone in front of the crease and put away a left-handed shot. MacKay got open to complete the hat trick after Cloutier forced a triple team up top. Forward Dhane Smith also picked up an assist on the goal as well.
The Bandits would get a power play opportunity with 2:17 left, but were unable to convert as multiple saves were made by goalie Christian Del Bianco to hold off Buffalo. The 2023 NLL MVP and Goalie of the Year made 40 saves for a 76.9 save percentage.
"I wish he was still sitting on his couch," MacKay said. "We had a lot of really good chances. Hit a lot of posts, Del (Bianco) made a lot of great saves...just got to find ways to take advantage of our opportunities a little better."
Smith would lead the Bandits in points with seven (one + six) and his six assists were tied for a game-high with Charalambides and Warriors forward Keegan Bal. MacKay would lead Buffalo in goals with three as he ended the night with also an assist for four points.
Matt Vinc got the start in between the pipes for the Bandits. He made 32 saves for a 71.1 save percentage.
Vinc and Smith both made important milestones in the loss. With Vinc being in net for Buffalo yesterday, he now has played in 300 career games, the most of any goalie in NLL history and he's the third player to reach this mark. Smith's four loose balls on the night were more than enough to past the 901 mark in his time with the Bandits. He passed former forward Pat McCready for fourth all-time in franchise history.
Vancouver would strike first a little over a minute into the game. Defenseman Jeff Cornwall fired a right-handed shot into the bottom right corner of the cage while the Warriors were on transition. Buffalo would then score two unanswered goals to respond and take the lead with 13:06 remaining in the first quarter. The Warriors, though, would go on a three-goal run after to have a 4-2 advantage, as the Bandits struggled to keep up with the Warriors' fast-paced offense.
Buffalo proceeded to score two unanswered across the first and second quarters with a goal between both frames. By the end of the first quarter, the Bandits outshot the Warriors 13-to-10.
However, Vancouver would break the tie and go on a three-goal run in the second frame with two of them coming on a five minute power play. Bandits transition player Nick Weiss was penalized for boarding. Buffalo was unable to respond before the quarter ended and the Warriors outshot the Bandits 16-to-five in the frame.
Buffalo kickstarted the third quarter with a power play goal from MacKay. He waited patiently with the ball in front of the crease and shot it into the top left corner of the net. Smith was given an assist on the goal.
Vancouver would respond with a goal of the team's own with 10:12 left in the frame. Transition player Marcus Klarich split two defenders and fired a sidearm left-handed shot past Vinc into the bottom left corner of the cage.
The Bandits proceeded to score two consecutive goals to cut the lead to 8-7. However, the Warriors would inch away from Buffalo with a short-handed goal with 2:56 left in the quarter. Forward Riley Loewen buried a left-handed one timer shot into the top right corner of the cage.
Buffalo would go onto score their four unanswered goals that was carried into the fourth frame, with the first one being the only one to come in the third quarter. Up to that point, Buffalo's four goals in the frame were more than what they scored in each of the previous two quarters.
"We were really unselfish in the second half," MacKay said. "In the first half, it was a lot of one pass, shot-offense and that was the frustration of not fully knowing what the defense was going to throw at us and getting more comfortable and talking about it at halftime...we're trying to push transition, make things happen, which is a staple of our team. Get the ball, swing it, let's be unselfish," MacKay said. "We have Josh (Byrne) and Dhane (Smith), but we also have Tehoka (Nanticoke), we have Buchy (Buchanon), we have Clout (Cloutier), myself. Anyone could go off any night and that's the beauty of our team, everyone trusts each other..."
At the end of the third frame, the Bandits outshot Vancouver 16-to-eight.
The Warriors would then respond with their four unanswered goals in the final quarter and only give up one goal, which was scored by MacKay, to secure the 13-12 win. Buffalo outshot Vancouver 16-to-13 in the frame.
Buffalo dropped to 11-4 with the loss and is in first place in the NLL as the team has the tiebreaker over the 11-4 Saskatechwan Rush, whom the Bandits beat 9-7 on March 1. As for the Warriors, they improved to 8-7 and are in seventh place while in a three-way tie with the Colorado Mammoth and San Diego Seals for fifth place.
The Bandits will hit the road to take on the Colorado Mammoth next Saturday. Face-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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