Christopher Crane, Buffalo Bills Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Photo Credit: David Stewart
The Buffalo Bandits (8-2) played host to Philadelphia Wings (3-5) at the Keybank Center on Saturday February 18, 2023 in a crucial matchup between the two Eastern Conference opponent’s. As the NLL hits the halfway mark of the season every win for each team counts even more. At this point in the season, the Buffalo Bandits are sitting in the Number One spot in the NLL as well as the Eastern Division and were looking to keep it that way with a win over the Wings, and they had to do it without Josh Byrne and Chris Cloutier in the lineup. Philadelphia, currently fifth in the Eastern Division, would be looking to grab a much needed win to help gain ground on Halifax who’s just one game ahead in the standings. During the game, Buffalo’s Dhane Smith would hit a milestone in the contest notching his 900th Career NLL point.
First half play would have the Wings control the tempo sending them into halftime with an 8-5 lead. Second half would see the Bandits take control despite some in-game injuries as they’d lose Tehoka Nanticoke, Ian MacKay and Brandon Robinson but would outscore the Wings 7-4 to make it a 12-12 game at the end of regulation to go to overtime. After just over a minute of play in the extra frame, it would be Buffalo’s Dhane Smith (5g, 5a) netting the game winner for the Bandits giving them a 13-12 win. Other notables for the Bandits would be Brad McCulley (4g, 5a) and Ian Mackay (3g, 2a).
The first half of the first quarter would have both teams exchanging scores with McCulley netting two scores and Smith netting the other lone score for Buffalo. Philadelphia got scores from Ben McIntosh (3g, 2a) and Joe Resetarits (3g, 4a). The Bandits would hold a 3-2 lead until the 4:42 mark of the quarter and that’s where the Wings would go on a four-goal run. Blaze Riorden (2g, 3a) and Mitch Jones (2g, 6a) both capitalized on power play opportunities; and teammate Sam LeClair (2g) netted Philadelphia’s other two scores to give the Wings a 6-3 lead at the end of the first.
Second quarter would see both teams draw even on the score card with each side netting two apiece. Buffalo’s MacKay got it started at the 2:13 mark making it a 6-4 game. It took a full nine minutes with a battle of the net-minders standing on their heads before the scoring drought ended. Philadelphia would be the one to answer back with 3:47 to go with Resetarits scoring first and McIntosh scoring again with 2:49 on the clock increasing the lead 8-4. The Bandits were able to grab one last score 20 seconds later from none other than Smith closing the gap to three. The teams would head into halftime 8-5 in favor of the Wings.
The Bandits would notch the first score of the third quarter just as they had done in the first and second. Kyle Buchanan (1g, 6a) would find twine at 1:14 to make it an 8-6 game. At the 2:22 mark, Resetarits would notch his hat-trick for Philadelphia erasing the scoring from Buchanan and they were up again by three 9-6. But Buffalo found their offense and would go on a four goal run, Smith notched two giving him a hat-trick; MacKay and McCulley netting the other two also giving McCulley a hat-trick and just like that they closed the gap to one making it 10-9 at the 3:14 mark. The Wings would get two more tallies at the end of the quarter with one of the scores finding the back of the net with .01 left in the frame. Tallying the markers for the Wings would be MacIntosh (hat-trick) and Jones making it 11-10 at the end of the third.
There were only three markers in the fourth and Buffalo would take back the lead, the first time since the 7:28 mark in the first, capitalizing on two power play opportunities to make it a 12-11 game with 9:24 to go. MacKay would notch his hat-trick and McCulley would put up his fourth. Both teams would battle back and forth for just over five minutes of play until Philadelphia’s Riorden would net his second of the night with 4:13 to go and the most crucial score of the night notching it even 12-12. Neither side would be able to find the back of the net after that and would force both teams into a sudden death overtime.
In the OT frame, both teams would have a couple quick exchanges before Dhane Smith from Buffalo would net his fifth on the night and game winner 1:07 in OT to give the Bandits a 13-12 victory.
STATS
Philadelphia Wings—SOG 52; FO 20-28; Saves 41; Sv% .759%; PP 2-4
Buffalo Bandits—SOG 54; FO 8-28; Saves 40; Sv% .769%; PP 3-4
NEXT UP:
Both teams have bye-weeks next week and have the following schedules for Week 14.
The Buffalo Bandits (8-2) will head to Nova Scotia to face the Halifax Thunderbirds (4-5)* at the Scotiabank Centre on Friday March 3, 2023, game time 6:30 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the action on ESPN+. This is the Game of the Week for fans in Canada so they can see the game for free on TSN or the TSN app.
The Philadelphia Wings (3-4)* will play host to the New York Riptide (2-6)* at Wells Fargo Center on Saturday March 3, 2023, game time 11:30 a.m. EST. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the action on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
Then the Wings (3-4)* will play again at home on Monday March 6, 2023 when they will host the Toronto Rock (8-2)* on Monday March 6, 2023, game time 7:00 p.m. This will be the second game in NLL history to be played on a Monday night, the first being in 2022 when the Colorado Mammoth hosted the New York Riptide on Monday April 4, 2022. Fans in the USA can see the game on ESPN+. Fans in Canada can see the action on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
Christopher Crane, Buffalo Bills Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
*Record at the time of the article