By: Brayden Peters
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Buffalo Bandits didn't dissapoint a sold out crowd in Key Bank Center last night. The raising of the Bandits' 2024 championship banner along with a 13-6 win over the Rochester Knighthawks was enough to satisfy Bandits fans. The pre-game celebrations didn't distract Buffalo, as they were very consistent in their solid play throughout the contest. They were able to do it without forward Chris Cloutier, who was placed on injured reserve yesterday.
"I think our leaders did a great job of reminding our players again, we're here to win a game," Bandits forward Dhane Smith said. "Obviously, cherish the moment because it doesn't happen that often, but remember what got us there and win this game to do it again. So, it was important to have a good start and I think we did that."
As for the Knighthawks, costly offensive and defensive mistakes throughout the game held them back.
"We're double clutching when we sort of swung into soft spots," Rochester head coach Mike Hasen said. "Instead of catching and shooting and trusting our sticks, this isn't what we wanted to see...defensively, we also gave up a lot of silly stuff. There's two or three goals I could think of right now that our compete level was sort of out the window."
Forward Josh Byrne led the Bandits in points with 11 and assists with nine for the night. His assist total put him over the 300 career assists mark. Byrne wasn't the only Bandit to hit a career milestone, as forward Kyle Buchanan got past the 1,000 mark for loose balls in a career. Forward Tehoka Nanticoke led Buffalo in goals as he recorded a hat trick.
Bandits forward Clay Scanlan was called up from the practice squad yesterday to replace Cloutier for his second career appearance. He he scored the first two goals of his young career while picking up an assist as well to give him three points on the night.
Rochester's Connor Fields led his squad in points with five (two+three) while forward Ryan Lanchbury led the Knighthawks in assists with four. Fields and forward Curtis Knight both led the team in goals with two apiece.
Matt Vinc got the start in net for the Bandits. His 61 saves (89.7 save percentage) wasn't just a career high in a game for him, but was the new record for saves in a game in Bandits history.
"Matt's in phenomenal shape," Buffalo head coach John Tavares said. "He can play for as long as he wants on this team."
Riley Hutchcraft got the start for the Knighthawks in net and recorded 43 saves to give him a 74.1 save percentage. Hutchcraft didn't play for all 60 minutes, as he was pulled for Steve Orleman after Buffalo got up 5-0. Orleman made two saves and allowed one goal (50.0 save percentage) in the 2:50 he played before Hutchcraft was put back into the game.
The Bandits went two-for-five on the power play while Rochester went two-for-six. Both sides also gave up one shorthanded goal apiece.
The first quarter of action was mostly quiet in the scoring department. The Knighthawks defensively kept Buffalo out towards the perimeter to start, not allowing them to cut to the crease.
Regardless of the Bandits' early struggles of getting higher quality scoring opportunities, they along with Rochester recorded multiple shots on goal. Buffalo led with 13 in the quarter compared to Rochester's 10. However, two of the Bandits' shots found the back of the net to go up 2-0.
Smith got the scoring started just over 30 seconds into the game. He found the bottom right corner of the cage after receiving a feed from Byrne. With 8:11 left in the quarter, Byrne painted the top right corner on a left-handed shot to add insurance to Buffalo's lead.
Hutchcraft and Vinc had to hold their own with the number of shots they faced. Hutchcraft made 14 saves in the quarter, two of which came on breakaways. As for Vinc, he made 10 to force the first quarter shutout.
The Bandits had to make some adjustments to make their offense more productive.
"We talked about getting through the middle and slipping our picks a lot more with speed, just cause confusion," Tavares said. "Often when you slip the pick, it draws two guys, or sometimes it draws anybody that just causes confusion and just following the basic fundementals. Stealing, slipping, getting over the top."
The Bandits came out slow to start the second quarter as they had trouble connecting on passes, killing scoring opportunities. As for Rochester, they moved with speed off ball, allowing their players to slip through the Bandits' defense and towards the crease.
After Buffalo transition player Ian MacKay buried a low-to-low shot with 10:17 left in the quarter, everything started to click for them offensively. They were able to get through the middle towards the crease and got higher quality scoring chances. Buffalo went on to score three unanswered goals in the quarter alone before the Knighthawks got onto the board.
With 7:52 left in the quarter, Fields found the bottom right corner of the net to cut into the Bandits' lead. Forward Ryan Smith and Knight were credited with assists on the goal.
The Knighthawks scored two more unanswered goals to make it a 6-3 game with 2:19 left in the half. However, the Bandits increased the deficit after Scanlan fired a low-to-low left handed shot into the net. Dhane Smith and Byrne were given assists for the goal.
At the end of the first half, Rochester outshot Buffalo 18-10 in the second quarter alone.
The Knighthawks carried some of the momentum they built in the second quarter into the second half. While on the power play with a little over a minute into the third quarter, Knight buried a one timer in the top left corner of the net to cut the deficit to three. Forward Kyle Waters and Fields were credited with assists.
Rochester's momentum didn't slow down the Bandits offense. Before the end of the third quarter, Buffalo found the back of the net four times in a row without giving up a goal.
Just like the first quarter, both teams' goalies had to come up clutch multiple times to prevent the game from getting extremely out of hand. Vinc made 11 saves on 12 shots on goal while Hutchcraft recorded 15 saves on 19 shots on goal.
The first seven minutes of the final quarter were quiet, as both teams couldn't capitalize on multiple scoring chances. The Knighthawks had some hope, though, of making a comeback with 7:45 left in the game. Forward Thomas McConvey found the bottom left corner of the cage on a left-handed shot to cut the lead to 11-5. Lanchbury and Fields got the assists on the goal.
All of Rochester's hopes were soon crushed as Buffalo scored two unanswered. The Knighthawks did tack on one more goal thanks to Knight, as he buried a right-handed side arm shot into the top right corner. Fields and Lanchbury got assists on that goal as well. However, the goal was scored with only 49 seconds left in the game, giving Rochester a very small chance of coming back.
Before the game came to a close, Knighthawks defenseman Chad Tutton dove towards the net to bury a shot and ran into Vinc up high in the process. A major scuffle occurred as a result and words were said between both benches even after it ended.
"It is what it is, and it just shows you how competitve the guys are and what type of environment it is," Vinc said. "Personally, it's not a malicious act. It's just, he was running out of space and he's coming to the net, and he's a big boy."
Rochester recorded 18 shots on goal in the final quarter of play while Buffalo recorded 13.
With the victory, the Bandits improved to 3-0 and are tied for first place in the NLL with the Georgia Swarm. As for the Knighthawks, the loss dropped to 1-4 and are 12th in the league.
The Knighthawks will head off to Georgia next to take on the Swarm on January 4. Face-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. As for the Bandits, they will host the Toronto Rock next on January 10. Face-off is scheduled for 7:30 as well.
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