At some time around the halfway point of the second quarter, Banditland let out a collective exhale that was about 10 days in the making. After Shayne Jackson scored to give Georgia a 5-4 lead, the Bandits rattled off 6 straight goals over 5 minutes of gameplay to go up 10-5 on their way to a very convincing 18-9 victory over the Georgia Swarm.

The Bandits and Swarm went into the game as the first and fourth seeds, respectively, in the East, meaning that if the playoffs began this week, they would’ve been the first-round playoff matchup, and Buffalo ensured that there was no question that they were the superior team last night.

Team	Shots On Goal	Shot Attempts
Buffalo	65 (63.7%)	82 (54.7%)
Georgia	37 (36.3%)	68 (45.3%)

As part of the 18 goals on the scoresheets, each Bandit forward ended up with productive stat lines. Dhane Smith once again led the Bandits with a 9-point night, registering 2 goals and 7 assists to put his 17-game point total at 135 points, with 41 goals and 94 assists. He’s now 2 points short of his 137 league single-season point record and will have ample opportunities to eclipse that number in the final game of the season on April 30.

Player	Point Total
Dhane Smith	9 (2G 7A)
Chris Cloutier	8 (3G 5A)
Josh Byrne	6 (3G 3A)
Connor Fields	6 (3G 3A)
Tehoka Nanticoke	5 (2G 3A)
Kyle Buchanan	5 (1G 4A)
Chase Fraser	2 (1G 1A)

The defense also managed to bounce back this week with a dominant 2nd half where the Swarm only managed 3 goals on 14 shots on goal. The Bandits’ defenders were able to limit Lyle Thompson to a single goal as part of a team-leading 6-point effort. Matt Vinc registered a .757 save percentage as part of a 28 save effort. Buffalo hadn’t given up less than 10 goals in a game since March 12.

Also, this goal from Ian MacKay was fun.

Hey Mickey! 💪#LetsGoBandits | @IanMacKay_94 pic.twitter.com/sUxFKuUbpu

— Buffalo Bandits (@NLLBandits) April 17, 2022

The Bandits will have their final bye week of the regular season, so we’ll preview the final game of the regular season next week and take a look around the league. While the Bandits have their playoff position wrapped up, the rest of the league is very much up for grabs:

With their 15-7 victory over the Halifax Thunderbirds, the Toronto Rock also secured their playoff position as the 2-seed in the East with a 12-5 record. The remaining two playoff positions in the East are still very much up for grabs, led by Halifax at 9-7. They will face the 6-10 Riptide on Saturday. While they’ve yet to be eliminated on paper officially since the 4 seed Swarm are 8-8, Philadelphia also has 8 wins and they and Georgia face each other to finish up the regular season.

In the West, Colorado (10-7), San Diego, and Calgary (9-7) have clinched playoff spots. San Diego has lost 5 games in a row while Calgary has won 5 in a row. Calgary travels to Rochester this weekend, while San Diego travels to Saskatoon to face the Rush. This brings us to the final spot in the West which can still go to an Eastern team as part of a potential wild card crossover. Panther City is fourth in the west at 7-9, but both Albany and Philadelphia are currently 8-9 after the FireWolves beat the Wings 11-5 Saturday.

So Buffalo will face any of Halifax, Georgia, Albany, or Philadelphia in round 1 and it’s going to take the full final two weeks to determine who that ends up being. Long story short: buckle up and watch some lacrosse the next two weekends.

Photo Credit: NLL.com