In their biggest weekend of the season, the Buffalo Bandits prevailed over the Halifax Thunderbirds with back-to-back 16-11 victories which propelled them to a 12-1 record and a 4 game advantage in the Eastern standings over the now 8-5 Thunderbirds and Toronto Rock, who lost to Georgia on Saturday. Their lead in the race for the best record in the NLL grew to 2.5 games as the San Diego Seals dropped to 9-3 on the season after losing Friday night to the Vancouver Warriors. 

They were so consistent that even their shooting percentages were identical in the two games.

On Saturday, 11,169 fans saw the Bandits use a 10-3 second half after trailing 8-6 at halftime to put away the Thunderbirds. The Bandits came out stronger in the first half on Sunday, as they went up 6-2 before Thunderbirds goalie Warren Hill was pulled in favor of Aaron Bold for the rest of the game. After trailing 13-7, the Thunderbirds scored 4 straight to cut the deficit to 2, but the last of those goals 1:56 into the fourth quarter was it for Halifax, and the Bandits scored the final three goals to clinch their second straight 16-11 win. 

Halifax outshot the Bandits in both games, but as he’s been all season, Matt Vinc was at the top of his game, making 114 saves. Vinc won Player of the Week for his performance. 

Saturday 3/26/2022	Bandits	Thunderbirds
Goals (Goals for Percentage)	16 (59.25%)	11 (40.74%)
SOG (SOG Percentage)	42 (39.25%)	65 (60.75%)
Shot Attempts (Corsi for Percentage)	69 (45.39%)	83 (54.61%)
Powerplay	3/6	0/7

Sunday 3/27/2022	Bandits	Thunderbirds
Goals (Goals for Percentage)	16 (59.25%)	11 (40.74%)
SOG (SOG Percentage)	42 (37.17%)	71 (62.83%)
Shot Attempts (Corsi for Percentage)	69 (40.35%)	102 (59.65%)
Powerplay	4/6	1/5

Another Two Game Weekend

By the end of the day Saturday, the Bandits will have played 4 games in 8 days. Their second two-game weekend in a row starts tonight in Philadelphia as they take on the Philadelphia Wings. They will then travel to Denver to face the Colorado Mammoth on Saturday. The Mammoth have spent most of the season in second in the West and will likely stay there into the playoffs. The Wings are the current leader of the second wild-card spot among a handful of 6 win teams.

	Buffalo Bandits: 12-1 (1st East)	Philadelphia Wings: 6-7 (5th East, WC2)	Colorado Mammoth: 7-6 (2nd East)
Goals For (Per Game – Rank)	179 (13.77 – 1st)	133 (10.23 – 11th)	141 (10.85 – 9th)
Goals Against (Per Game – Rank)	124 (9.54 – 2nd)	144 (11.08 – T6th)	144 (11.08 – T6th)
Goals For Percentage (Rank)	59.08% (1st)	48.01% (10th)	49.47% (8th)
Shots on Goal For	671 (51.61 – 6th)	677 (52.08 – 4th)	607 (46.69 – 12th)
Shots on Goal Against	705 (54.23 – 14th)	699 (53.77 – 11th)	703 (54.08 – 13th)
Shots on Goal Percentage	48.76% (9th)	49.2% (6th)	46.34% (14th)
Shot Attempts For	946 (72.77 – 5th)	929 (71.46 – 6th)	841 (64.69 – 14th)
Shot Attempts Against	1016 (78.15 – 14th)	955 (73.46 – 9th)	1000 (76.92 – 13th)
Shot Attempt Percentage	48.22% (11th)	49.31% (9th)	45.68% (14th)
Powerplay Percentage (Rank)	50.0% (T3rd)	54.9% (1st)	37.2% (12th)
Penalty Kill PCT Kills (Rank)	63.4% (4th)	52.2% (10th)	64.2% (3rd)

Keys Against Philadelphia

• Keep Up At The Dot: Things don’t get any easier for Max Adler this week. After keeping up with Jake Withers on Sunday, he’ll now have to go up against another of the league’s top faceoff athletes, Trevor Baptiste, who is coming in at a 66.3% win rate. Baptiste is the best in the league at winning faceoffs cleanly, so when the opportunities for Adler to win the clamp come, the Bandits’ wing players will need to be ready to chase down the loose balls to ensure they can keep up their possession count.
• Stay Out Of The Box: If last week was about controlling special teams. This week for the Bandits, this week would be about controlling their own staying out of the box. The Wings will be coming in with the top powerplay in the league with 28 powerplay goals on 51 advantages. 

Keys Against Colorado

• Keep the Mammoth Offense Uncomfortable: At the trade deadline, the Mammoth traded for Tyson Gibson, the 2019 #1 overall pick in an attempt to reshape their offense for the stretch run and into the next few seasons. As they continue to figure out the best way to optimize their offense on the fly, as practices come at a premium in this league, switching up defensive looks to test the Mammoth’s ability to communicate on the fly will be a key to making the game easier for Matt Vinc and more challenging for the Mammoth.
• Stay Persistent: Dillon Ward is one of the best goaltenders in the NLL, so the Bandits will need to be on their A-game on Saturday. If Ward is dominating, they will need to keep up the shot volume and not get discouraged because, as this season has taught us, the goals will come if they keep shooting. Comparing the two teams’ offenses, the Mammoth will likely struggle to keep up the pace of shot attempts with the Bandits, so if they can get an early lead, they should be able to get the Rocky Mountain victory.

Epilogue

Chris Cloutier was the 2nd overall pick in the 2018 draft to the Wings and then joined the Bandits in a midseason trade during his rookie year. Doug Buchan was his teammate on the 2018-19 Wings. He joined the Bandits at the start of the 2019-20 season. Bryce Sweeting spent his first three seasons in the NLL with the Mammoth.

Corey Small spent the previous two seasons with the Bandits before signing with Philadelphia this past offseason. Both of the Wings goalies have played with the Bandits. Starter Zach Higgins started for the 2017-18 Bandits and backed up Matt Vinc in 2018-19. Backup Angus Goodleaf played his first three seasons, 2010-2012, with the Bandits. Ryan Wagner also spent 2017-2019 with the Bandits. Ian Llord was a member of the 2008 championship-winning Bandits and stayed with the team through the 2012 season. Finally, Blaze Riorden got his first nine-game NLL opportunity with the Bandits in 2017.

Zed Williams is the first member of the Mammoth to point out. While he never played for the Bandits, he had a legendary high school career at Silver Creek High School. Tim Edwards, who is unlikely to play due to injury, was a member of the 2017 Bandits.