In their previous two losses, the Bandits played competitive games and came up short in the end. On Saturday, they couldn’t get out of their way, falling to 13-3 on the season in a 15-12 loss to the New York Riptide in front of 12,436 at KeyBank Center.

The story in this game was the first half. After a single blink in the first quarter, the Bandits were down 6-1. Another blink later, it was 10-3 at halftime. Buffalo did chip away with 4 straight goals to end the game after going down 15-8, but their fate had already been sealed.

Callum Crawford was out for this game, but Jeff Teat stepped up to ensure his big impact on the Riptide offense did not go dry, scoring 6 goals and adding 3 assists. Connor Kearnan and Dan Lomas each had 2 goals and an assist in their secondary scoring role, while Jake Fox and Kieran McArdle (also added a goal) each had 3 assists to step up and replace Crawford’s facilitating on the day. The Riptide were also aided by a very undisciplined Bandits team that took 13 total penalties, 11 of them in the second half as the Bandits attempted to make a comeback. While they only capitalized on 2 of 9 powerplay attempts, the extra penalty minutes kept the Bandits’ 5v5 offense out of commission for longer periods. The Riptide also got a penalty shot goal from Jeff Teat in the third quarter after Josh Byrne stumbled and took a tripping penalty trying to prevent a Jay Thorimbert breakaway attempt. Two other penalty shots were awarded to the Riptide in the final 10 seconds, as the Bandits were down 5 on 3 and then Steve Priolo took a slashing penalty and John Tavares was given a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct (Penalty shots are handed out if a team takes another penalty when it’s already 5v3). The Riptide did not score on either.

On the Bandits side, it was another rough outing for Matt Vinc, as he gave up 14 goals on 51 shots. After Doug Buchan finished out the final 6:15 of the second quarter, Vinc settled in as the game went on. While not all on him, as the Bandits were missing both Nick Weiss and Justin Martin for the third straight game and Justin Robinson left the game in the first half with an injury, Vinc is usually the first to admit he would like to have that game back.

Dhane Smith continued to spread the ball out and finished with a goal and 8 assists, which helped him surpass Mark Matthews as the new single-season record holder for assists in a season; Matthews had 84 in 2018. With two more games left, Smith is now at 87. His 126 points are 11 short of the single-season points record of 137 that was set in 2016 by, surprise, Dhane Smith. I’ll have more on him next week as the Bandits will be on a bye. Rounding out the Bandits’ offense, Chase Fraser had his fourth straight game with a hat trick and 5 in 6 games. Josh Byrne added 3 goals and an assist and Connor Fields had a goal and 5 assists.

	Shot Attempts	Shots On Goal
Bandits	75 (50%)	54 (40%)
Riptide	75 (50%)	54 (50%)

Coming Next: April 16 @ 7:00 Eastern @ Georgia Swarm (ESPN+)

The Bandits will head to the road to face the Georgia Swarm in Duluth for their final road game of the regular season. The Bandits defeated the Swarm in Buffalo 12-10 on January 14th. If the playoffs started this week, they would be the 1v4 matchup in the East, so this is a big game for both teams.

H2H Comparison	Buffalo Bandits (13-3 – 1st in East)	Georgia Swarm (8-7 – 4th in East)	BUF 1/14	GA 1/14
Goals For (Per Game – Rank)	222 (13.88 – 1st)	174 (11.60 – 3rd)	12	10
Goals Against (Per Game – Rank)	166 (10.38 – 3rd)	174 (11.60 – 11th)	10	12
Goals For Percentage (Rank)	57.22% (1st)	50.00% (6th)	54.5%	45.5%
Shots on Goal For	832 (52.00 – 4th)	746 (49.73 – 8th)	53	47
Shots on Goal Against	863 (53.94 – 13th)	731 (48.73 – 5th)	47	53
Shots on Goal Percentage	49.09% (9th)	50.51% (5th)	53%	47%
Shot Attempts For	1171 (73.19 – 5th)	1033 (68.87 – 7th)	84	68
Shot Attempts Against	1241 (77.56 – 14th)	1032 (68.40 – 7th)	68	84
Shot Attempt Percentage	48.55% (10th)	50.02% (6th)	55.3%	44.7%
Powerplay Percentage (Rank)	53.0% (2nd)	41.0% (10th)	2/4	0/3
Penalty Kill PCT Kills (Rank)	64.0% (3rd)	66.1% (1st)	3/3	2/4

Keys to the Game

• Don’t just win the first 5 minutes: It’s been a trend throughout the season that the Bandits will inevitably game in and game outgo on one run where they flat out to dominate their opponent. After last week’s clunker, they need that to be the first five minutes. Take the crowd out of the game, get Swarm veteran goaltender Mike Poulin off of his game, and, most importantly, control the game script and make sure that Georgia is the one keeping up with the Bandits, not the other way around
• 5-on-5 Focus: As I alluded to in the Riptide recap, while a 7 for 9 clip on the PK turned out to not kill the Bandits in goals allowed, the extended periods of penalty killing throughout the game harmed their offense’s ability to create more possessions to be able to get back in the game more than they were able to. They may be hesitant to put too much on film with a looming May 7th rematch in the cards, but with the talent and creativity the Bandits have on the offensive side, that should not be a crutch to going out and clinching the 1-seed in the East (and in turn, the overall league standings).
• Lyle Thompson: Regularly in the conversation for best lacrosse player in the world, Lyle Thompson has unsurprisingly not skipped a beat this season, as he is currently tied for the lead of the NLL in goals with 41 and has added 43 assists in only 14 games played. He and Shayne Jackson (32G 35A) make up a bulk of the offense for the Swarm, with many of Lyle’s shot assists being sent Jackson’s way on the doorstep of the crease. He’ll also play a bit off-ball, so at any point that the Swarm are on offense, the Bandits will need to know where #4 in navy is at all times.

Playoff Picture

Team	W	L	This Week’s Game	Notes
Buffalo Bandits	13	3	@ Georgia	Clinched Playoff Berth – Can clinch league 1-seed with a win or Toronto loss
Toronto Rock	11	5	v Halifax	Clinched Playoff Berth. Would clinch a top-2 seed in the East with a win
Halifax Thunderbirds	9	6	@ Toronto	Can Clinch Playoff Berth with a win or a Panther City loss
Georgia Swarm	8	7	v Buffalo	Can Clinch Playoff Berth with a win, Panther City loss, and Albany loss
Philadelphia Wings	8	8	@ Albany	The current holder of Western Wild Card (crossover) Can Clinch Playoff Berth with a win and either a Panther City or Vancouver loss
Albany FirewWolves	7	9	v Philadelphia	Would be eliminated with a loss

The NLL schedule makers must have patted themselves on the back Monday morning when they woke up and saw that the top 6 teams in the East not only play each other but also have both a playoff preview and a crucial 5v6 game that has an impact on the Western Wild Card Position. The top three teams in each division make the playoffs and then the next two best records get the wild cards, with the better of those teams being the Eastern Wild Card and then the next team being the Western Wild Card.

As far as the Bandits are concerned, they still control their destiny and need one more win to get the one seed and would only drop to the 2 if they lose this week, Toronto beats Halifax, and Toronto beats Buffalo in the final week of the season (Toronto would win the H2H in that case). Then around the league, Philadelphia, and Albany could each make the jump over to the Western bracket as Panther City is 6-9 and Vancouver is 6-10 and trailing behind both eastern teams for their chance to be a Wild Card. Calgary currently holds the third spot in the West at 8-7, and Colorado and San Diego have clinched playoff spots at 10-6 and 9-6, respectively.

Each of the teams that have played 15 games will be playing next week, while those who have played 16 will have a bye week before everyone returns to action for the final weekend of the season to close out April.

Photo Credit: NLL.com