A back-door pass from Robert Church to Clark Walter on the opening possession of the game was as good of a start for the Rush as they could have asked for, and then their defense would have felt the same after Matt Hossack blocked the opening Bandits shot of the game, as his help-side defense got in the way of Ian MacKay’s roll off a screen for Josh Byrne on a play that the Bandits have had a lot of quarter-opening possession success with during their run. After they forced a crease violation on the next Bandits touch, Levi Anderson sped past his man and scored on a crease dive on his first touch in his first game since April 13. Dhane Smith broke ankles and got open for Buffalo’s first shot on goal of the game, but it was turned aside by Frank Scigliano. The Rush continued some sustained possession time throughout the first five minutes, but a jab and an outside look from the KeyBank Center script on the turf from Josh Byrne gave Buffalo their first goal of the game. Saskatchewan won the ensuing faceoff, and Mike Messenger used his strength to get to the net through two defenders, but his look was blocked by Steve Priolo, and it was the captain who started the runout for Buffalo to get the ball back. Byrne rebounded his own miss, and on the reset, Kyle Buchanan set up his man on a textbook back-door cut and finished off a pass from Tehoka Nanticoke to tie the game.

A roughing call on Nanticoke halfway through the quarter put the Rush on the first powerplay of the game, but they came up short, with Matt Vinc making a pair of saves and the rest of their five shot attempts going wide. After the final 30 seconds of the penalty were stalled out, the Rush did score as the game went back to 5-on-5, with Anderson finding Austin Shanks open on the crease to give the visitors the lead back with 3:49 left in the quarter. The game soon got chippy as Shanks and Byrne got tied up behind the net and took each other to the ground, but Buffalo also got the extra two with some extra rough stuff from Zack Belter during the commotion. The Rush maintained possession for the majority of the two minutes, but three of their shots were saved, with blocks from Paul Dawson, Nick Weiss, and Cam Wyers doing the rest and closing out the opening quarter.

The Rush were fortunate to score on off the opening faceoff in the second quarter as well, as Brock Haley picked up an offensive rebound to extend the possession and then scored from outside to extend the Rush lead to 4-2. With just under 9 minutes left in the half, Levi Anderson cut to the net and beat Matt Vinc in close, but the goal was overturned by a successful challenge on a crease violation. As Buffalo got the ball back after the lengthy pause, Ian MacKay popped to the middle of the floor off a double screen and beat Frank Scigliano over the far shoulder to cut the deficit to one. Dhane Smith’s primary assist on the goal have him his 201st playoff point in his career, officially passing his coach for the most career playoff points in league history. Two back-and-forths later, Smith found MacKay again, this time taking a full speed run to the net and finishing off the quick stick in front to tie the game at 4. After Saskatchewan picked up the next possession, Matt Vinc stopped a midrange shot form Zach Manns, and while the rebound went right to Austin Shanks, Vinc got over for the sliding save. Back the other way, Chase Fraser had essentially the whole offensive zone on an isolation look to drive left, beat his man, and fly through the crease for the goal, giving Buffalo their first lead of the game 8:35 into the second quarter.

As the Bandits turned the ball over on each of their next three possessions, the Rush were able to weather the storm of a Bandits run down to 4:21 left in the half before the Bandits got another shot on goal. It was then under 3 to play that they were rewarded for that defense, as Jake Boudreau and Mike Messenger stayed out for a shift on offense, as Boudreau flipped a pass to Messenger, who had space to step in and fire an outside shot from the restraining line for the goal. After Frank Scigliano stopped a shot from Kyle Buchanan as the half entered its final minute, Robert Church set a screen for Austin Shanks, and while the help defense took the rolling Church, Shanks had space to sidearm a shot to give the Rush the lead back with 49.8 on the clock. However, after the Rush won the ensuing faceoff, a pass from Messenger went astray and was recovered by Nick Weiss, who found Ian MacKay off the bench for his third goal of the half and third straight game with a hat trick. The Rush had the advantage in shot, loose ball, and possession share, but a scoreboard even at 6 was all they could show for it.

Don’t get too used to it, but once again to start the third quarter, the Rush won the faceoff, and on the opening possession, Zach Manns stepped back from midrange and scored to re-take the lead. Mike Messenger and Josh Byrne got tangled up in front of the Rush net and were sent to the box. On the first 4-on-4 possession, it was Manns again scoring from a similar spot, only this time beat Matt Vinc near-side-high instead of far-side-low. As Vinc stopped Ryan Keenan on a quick stick in front, the Rush captain’s momentum sent him into the netminder, sending him to the box for goaltender interference. On the 4-on-3, Dhane Smith rebounded a Chris Cloutier shot and found, who else, Ian MacKay on the doorstep for the open goal, giving the Bandits a powerplay tally on what would become their only powerplay of the game, with this call on Keenan being the final penalty of the entire rest of the game.

The goals didn’t stop, however (yet), as now fresh out of the penalty box, Ryan Keenan pushed the lead right back up to 2. The Rush then got a 4 shot possession only for all of their shots to be turned aside by Matt Vinc. Their defense forced a turnover the other way, but after their offense failed to reach the target on a shot on net on their next possession, Dhane Smith added his first goal of the game to his four assists so far, beating Mike Messenger wide and drawing a penalty for the lacrosse equivalent of an and-one. After a multi-shot Rush possession finally worked out in their favor, with Austin Shanks scoring on the third attempt for his third goal of the game, it was Smith again, this time receiving a pass on the crease and spinning of Messenger and scoring after a pair of fakes. Two possessions later, it was time for the tell-tale sign of a comeback run, as a saved Josh Byrne shot was rebounded by an open Kyle Buchanan, who scored over the near shoulder to tie the game at 10 with 4:51 left in the quarter (clinching the first Moe’s goal of the playoffs for those keeping score at home). Defense into offense came back from there, Steve Priolo blocked a shot attempt from Jake Boudreau, and then after the captain picked off an Austin Shanks pass, it was Smith again finding the back of the net to give the Bandits the 11-10 lead with 3:24 left in the quarter. The score would remain as the quarter entered its final 15 minutes.

Into the fourth, the Rush did once again win the opening faceoff, but the back-door pass from Ryan Keenan to Austin Shanks deflected off the shaft of Thomas Whitty’s stick, forcing a turnover. They found the back of the net on their next possession, but it was well after Robert Church had fallen into the crease, immediately waved off by the officials. The stalemate continued from there. Shots on nearly every possession, but those that made it on net were each stopped. The closest it came to being broken up came with less than 6 to play. Dhane Smith had a shot graze off the jersey on the arm of Frank Scigliano, and then after they got the reset, Chris Cloutier hit the crossbar. With Saskatchewan getting the ball pack, Ryan Keenan hit the post as well. All of a sudden, it was the final media timeout of the game, and still neither team was able to find the back of the net in the fourth quarter.

A save and a reset for Buffalo took a minute off the clock, and Saskatchewan’s ensuing possession went wide for an over and back. Pinball from Tehoka Nanticoke and a shot from Josh Bryne later, less than three minutes to go. Zach Manns has a shot hit the logo on Matt Vinc’s jersey, and the Bandits kill off more time, less than two minutes to go. Holden Garlent rebounds a saved shot and looks to hit Austin Shanks with a pass for what would be an open look in front, but Steve Priolo intercepted another pass. While the Rush got the fortune of a crease call on Josh Byrne with 1:32 left, Ian MacKay ran down Connor McClelland and stripped him from behind. The additional Buffalo possession meant that the Rush wouldn’t be getting the ball back until 1:08, with the Rush calling timeout with 1:01 left. Frank Scigliano now on the bench, the play was drawn up for Robert Church, whose midrange look was blocked by Paul Dawson. The rebound flew around and landed to Ryan Keenan on the far crease. He looked for Church now crease-side as well, but once again, it was Priolo with the clean interception. Timeout Buffalo with 46.7 left.

Dhane Smith used a screen from Matt Vinc, who passed to Ian MacKay around the midline to get into the offensive zone, running along the near boards until a sea of three Rush players met him in the corner, with the refs whistling down the loose ball battle with 32 seconds left as MacKay had fallen on the ball in the commotion. As Saskatchewan got the ball back with the full 30 on their side, Zach Manns looked for Robert Church crease-to-crease, but he stumbled uncontested and fell into the crease, wiping out the best look for a scoring chance that they had in the final minutes. With the clock at 16.5 and the net still empty, bounced a pass from behind his own net that was just wide of Nick Weiss at the center logo, but after bouncing into the zone and off the head of Kyle Buchanan’s stick, the next bounce of the ball went into the net, crediting Buchanan with a hat trick. Jake Naso won the clamp on the ensuing faceoff with 10.8 seconds left, but the ball flew to the corner and took about 5 seconds for Mike Messenger to grab the loose ball, and the Rush were out of time. Game 1 went to the Bandits.

In all the talk of how complete the 2025 Bandits roster is, the team defense in front of Matt Vinc gets discussed as such: A complete unit. They exist in the tug-of-war between said complete unit working together without seeking out their own accolades and that attitude probably preventing them from getting said accolades. With that being said, the flowers deserve to be handed out to Steve Priolo in this one. No matter how much attention that the Dhanes, Joshes, and Matts of the world get, no matter how much attention the record breaking shot blocking of Paul Dawson has gotten or Ian MacKay’s transformation into The Buffalo Army Night or even how quickly Cam Wyers and Zack Belter have developed into mainstays in only their second seasons in the league, Priolo is still the foundation, a bridge between the previous era during which his head coach was still leading an offense into this dynasty, perhaps more representative of what a captaincy is than any other in the National Lacrosse League.

The captain did it all in this one. He blocked 4 shots (tied with Paul Dawson for the most in the game), caused 2 turnovers (tied with Cam Wyers for the most for the team in the game), and picked up 11 loose balls (the most for the team). In gut-check time, the defense limited the Rush to 8 total shots on goal in the fourth quarter, with Matt Vinc making his final 8 of 44 saves on the night.

Offensively, Dhane Smith led with 3 goals and 5 assists, as the Offensive Player of the Year had the control of the game running through his possessions in the second half. Ian MacKay’s 4 goals and 2 assists place him with 13 goals and 5 assists through 4 playoff games. Josh Byrne had a goal and 4 assists. On the other side of MacKay’s goal scoring prowess this spring is Bryne distributing 14 assists through those 4 games. Kyle Buchanan once again did whatever the team needed up front, scoring 3 times, picking up an assist, and adding 9 loose balls.

On the other end, there isn’t a lot that the would say they did worse than the Bandits. They owned the share of shots, loose balls, faceoffs, and turnovers, but the Bandits were just better enough, especially down the stretch, to keep it clear who was the favorite and who was the underdog in this matchup. Austin Shanks continued his playoff heater to lead the offense with 3 goals and 5 assists. He is now up to 13 goals and 9 assists. Zach Manns had 2 goals and 2 assists, while Clark Walter had a goal and 2 assists and Robert Church had 3 assists. If there is one place they will immediately look to clean up in Game 2, it will be their shot accuracy, as they had 35 shots off and 12 blocked. Easier said than done, of course, as Buffalo’s ability to contest shots to force them wide has carried them through all three rounds and a win away from their third straight title. Frank Scigliano made 32 saves despite the loss.

Game 2 is Sunday night (5/18) at 8:00 pm, eastern, on WNLO locally, ESPN+ in the US, TSN and TSN+ in Canada, and NLL+ everywhere else.

Photo Credit: Buffalo Bandits