(Photo credit: WM Photography)

Buffalo Bandits 12 – Albany FireWolves 8 | Buffalo leads Best of 3 series 1-0

Despite the David vs Goliath broadcast open, Tye Kurtz scooped up a rebound of an Alex Simmons shot in front and showed no fear sending a shot in close, and the ball snuck off the jersey of Matt Vinc and in and overcame a challenge from John Tavares for a 1-0 Albany lead 35 seconds in. Buffalo got a good chance on their first possession as Chris Cloutier flipped a pass to a rolling Chase Fraser, but the righty forward shot it over and wide. Fortunately on their next possession, the regular season MVP (as announced earlier in the afternoon) Josh Byrne fed Tehoka Nanticoke in front for a quick stick to tie the game at 1 with 12:16 on the clock in the first quarter. Travis Longboat nearly took the lead right back in front but he too missed the net, and as the Bandits took back the ball, the Bandits drew a holding penalty on Mike Byrne. A rip from the last name sharing Josh on a swing pass from Dhane Smith gave the Bandits their first lead of the game.

Buffalo’s first delayed penalty of the game came midway through the quarter, but a long sweeper from Ethan Walker at 6-on-5 tied the game back up at 2, and then with 4:57 to go, Kurtz drove to the net and put a crease dive in to make it 3-2. Patrick Kaschalk headed to the box with 3:53 on the clock after a dead ball high shove on Byrne, and after the media timeout, Buffalo got their second powerplay. Brandon Robinson was robbed on a quick stick by Doug Jamieson, but an offensive rebound led to another outside rip from Byrne which re-tied things. Mike Byrne headed to the box with a cross-check from behind on the ensuing faceoff, and it was Dhane Smith getting in on the action to make it 4-3 Buffalo. Ethan Walker finished the quarter out with a tying goal in close with 20 seconds left. Albany got one final look 6-on-5 chance but Vinc denied Walker to ensure the deadlock after 15.

Kyle Buchanan fired off the post to open up the Bandits quarter, and the extra possession led to a Chris Cloutier spin move and shot that was covered up by Doug Jamieson. However, Cloutier finished off a later chance in tight after getting open slipping a Dhane Smith double team and pump faking his way to an opening over the shoulder. From there, a myriad of blocked shots from the Bandits defense defined rest of the early second quarter. A look late in the shot clock with 6:16 left in the half from Travis Longboat tied the game back up at 5. As the defenses took back over alongside the rest of the quarter, another late marker for the FireWolves, this time with 25.9 seconds left on a pump low shoot high from Alex Simmons, made the difference and gave Albany a 6-5 halftime lead.

Matt Vinc opened the second half up with a point black denial of Marshall Powless after a rare defensive breakdown in the game from the Bandits to that point. The FireWolves continued to employ a lot of offensive pressure early on, but Vinc kept making save after save. And he was rewarded after 6 early saves 4:33 into the new half with a 6-on-5 goal from Chris Cloutier. Vinc and Doug Jamieson continued to put on a show in the third quarter, with the save totals in the next five minutes rising to 11 from Vinc and 7 from Jamieson in the quarter. Chase Fraser was called in the crease when he looked to have broken a 10+ minute scoring impasse, signaling a second challenge on the night from John Tavares. This time it was successful as the initial bounce before Fraser’s foot landed was behind the goal line, and the Bandits were back in the lead with 2:49 left in the quarter. Connor Farrell lowered the boom after a turnover on the ensuing faceoff, but it was with a cross check that put Albany on the powerplay, which the Bandits killed. Two saves in tight from Jamieson to end the quarter meant that the score would stay 7-6 Buffalo after 3, with 15 saves from Matt Vinc keeping the FireWolves scoreless in the frame, outdueling Jamieson’s 11.

Ian MacKay stayed out for a little bit of offense to open the quarter and got himself on the board 37 seconds in to push the Bandits lead to 2, but then the FireWolves countered right away with a running bouncer from Alex Simmons on his opposite site to trim what had been the largest lead of the night which only lasted 33 seconds. A delay of game penalty on Nate Grenon soon after put Buffalo back on the powerplay, but the FireWolves were able to kill it off and managed the two best scoring chances of the two minute powerplay, both stopped by Matt Vinc. As the clock dropped until 8 minutes to play, Dhane Smith once again got his distributing going and found Kyle Buchanan alone in front to make it 9-7, as the Albany defense lost him on an off ball screen from Chris Cloutier. Buffalo pushed the lead up to three and over double digits with a goal from Josh Byrne from midrange that just found its was between Jamieson’s padding and the near post. Insurance from outside with 2:35 left from The Great Dhane made it 11-7 and Dylan Robinson scored on the empty net 15 seconds later. Sam Firth scored with 1:02 to play with the net empty out of the timeout, but that was all that would be mustered, as a 12-8 final score gave the Bandits not only their first road finals win since 1992 (Thanks for that nugget Dave) but a place on the doorstep of back to back championships.

Dhane Smith was involved in all 11 goals before the empty netter, finishing with 2 goals and 9 assists. The 6th of those assists put him ahead of his coach John Tavares in all time playoff assists, as the GOAT finished his career with 115. However, there are two records that Coach still was able to hold onto.

Byrne had a game of his own with 3 goals and 4 assists with 9 loose balls as well, and Chris Cloutier proved to be the secondary piece to step up with 2 goals and 4 assists. In addition to his goal, Kyle Buchanan gave the Bandits a plethora of extra possessions with 11 loose balls. The Bandits defense was able to hold Albany to 45 shots on goal, being credited with blocking 8 of them, and their rock in the pipes Matt Vinc had 37 saves in his 35th career playoff win.

On the other side, Ethan Walker’s 2 goals and 5 assists led Albany, while the rookies Alex Simmons and Tye Kurtz combined for 4 goals and 6 assists. Doug Jamieson finished with double digit saves in every quarter on his way to 44 for the game, but it was in the losing effort for the first time during this playoff run.

The teams will both hop on a certainly sleep-filled near 4 and a half hour bus ride from downtown Albany to downtown Buffalo and then head to some more consistent sleep before waking up and finding themselves in the mere hours before Game 2, which will face off at KeyBank Center tomorrow night (or tonight if you’re reading this on the morning of the 18th) at 7:30 pm in a sold out Banditland.

Game 1’s Stat Page here