After the unexpected shootout in Game 1 of the East Division Final between the Buffalo Bandits and Toronto Rock, the defenses returned to the forefront in Game 2. But once again, Game 2 was almost as even as possible and the narrowest of margins.

In the end, the Bandits had a 10-9 victory and their ticket to the NLL Finals for the 11th time in 30 seasons.

Kyle Buchanan got the scoring underway 2:17 into the game after making the best of a broken loose ball battle in front of the net leading to a clear opening to beat Nick Rose at point-blank. About 4 minutes later, Brandon Slade got a lane to the net and beat Matt Vinc 5-hole to tie the game. Josh Byrne got his first of the night another 4 minutes or so later after playing a quick pick-and-roll with Chris Cloutier and the Bandits took a 2-1 lead into the first quarter intermission.

Connor Fields crashed the net to pick up a rebound off a Dhane Smith shot to give the Bandits the 3-1 lead early in the second quarter. Three minutes later, Latrell Harris ripped an outside shot as the trailer of a 3-on-2 to make the score 3-2, and then for the final 9:34 of the second quarter, the defensive struggle resumed and took us into the half with five total goals on the board.

Tom Schreiber got the scoring underway in the third quarter to tie the game at three, only to be countered by Chris Cloutier 19 seconds later. Toronto scored in transition in their first possession out of the first media timeout of the third quarter courtesy of Josh Jubenville to tie the game back up. The defensive struggle, again, continued in the third quarter, but the Bandits were able to put two more goals on the board with two powerplay goals to extend the lead to 6-4 after 45 minutes, with Josh Byrne setting up Dhane Smith and Chris Cloutier, respectively.

In the fourth quarter, the offenses returned, as Schreiber scored 49 seconds into the quarter to cut the Rock deficit back to 1, but then the Bandits went on their run, with Dhane Smith, Chase Fraser, and Josh Byrne each scoring to extend the Bandits lead to 9-5. They had now scored 5 of the last 6 goals. This didn’t bury the Rock, however, as they came up with their own run and didn’t waste a lot of time doing it. Rob Hellyer answered back 41 seconds after Byrne’s goal to make it 9-5. Dan Craig drove to the net on the next possession and scored again to make it 9-7, and then the Rock controlled another faceoff and some lengthy possession time that led to Hellyer’s second goal in 57 seconds. It was once again a one-goal game just like that. Chase Fraser was able to fake out Nick Rose on an outside shot with 3:32 to go to give the Bandits a two-goal cushion that proved to be crucial later on.

Toronto called their timeout with 1:23 to go to get their first set of empty-net possession. The Bandits got the stop but were unable to clear and Toronto got the ball back, with Rob Hellyer hitting the post on the ensuing shot. Off the reset and a late-playoff-game-necessary-video-review-to-confirm, Tom Schreiber used a cluster of three screens to get an open shot off that caught Matt Vinc off balance and cut the game to 10-9. TD Ierlan controlled the ensuing faceoff to get the ball back to Toronto. The Bandits’ defense was able to deflect a couple of shot attempts from the Rock, but the Rock prevented the Bandits from clearing and got the ball back with 10 seconds to go, Dan Craig got another shot attempt off that was stopped by the leg of Vinc, Dan Dawson picked up the rebound, passed to Challen Rogers with 3 seconds left who found Craig wide open on the doorstep for a quick stick that found the back of the net.

But the Rock were out of time by a matter of tenths of seconds. The Bandits had squeaked the game out and avoided overtime.

It wasn’t a perfect game for either team, but almost everything you would’ve expected to happen ended up happening. Both goalies were phenomenal, with Matt Vinc’s 42 saves on 51 shots faced outdueled Nick Rose’s 39 saves on 49 shots faced. Once again, Josh Byrne and Dhane Smith led the way for the Bandits, with Byrne racking up 2 goals and 6 assists and Smith having 2 goals and 4 assists of their own. Chris Cloutier and Chase Fraser each had multi-goal games as well. Tom Schreiber led the Rock again with 3 goals and 2 assists and Rob Hellyer had a reversed 2 goals and 3 assists.

The Bandits will face the Colorado Mammoth in the NLL Finals after they defeated the San Diego Seals in the decisive third game of the West Division Finals this past Saturday. I’ve written a fair amount already in this post, so that’s all for now. We’ll preview the series later this week.

Photo Credit: NLL.com