(Going quicker recaps today considering it’s now Saturday)

Panther City 12 – Buffalo Bandits 11 F/OT

Josh Byrne’s first quarter hat trick had a response from Panther City with every goal – from Will Malcom, Jonathan Donville, and Ty Thompson in order. Byrne was stopped with 6 seconds left in the quarter with the empty net, and Nick Damude scooped up the rebound and Sent It. Three bounces later, Damude had his third career goal, having scored once in each of the prior two seasons too.

Ty Thompson opened up the second to make it 5-3, but the Bandits got the game tied back up with goals from Kyle Buchanan and Dhane Smith, which was the score at the half.

Panther City controlled the third quarter, with Dylan Hutchison scoring his first goal of the season to retake the lead and Will Malcom adding a goal less than two minutes later. Dhane Smith scored his second of the game with less than five minutes in the quarter, but Jonathan Donville cancelled that out in the final two minutes to go make it 8-6 Panther City after 3.

Into the fourth, Buffalo made their run, starting with Adam Bomberry scoring on a 3-on-2 in his first game of the season in return from injury. An extended three shot off possession the ensuing faceoff was finished off with Josh Byrne tying the game, and then after another faceoff win for Connor Farrell, Kyle Buchanan fed a cutting Byrne who have the Bandits the lead back with 12:19 left in regulation. Chris Cloutier got his first goal of the game after he snuck a goal past Nick Damude that barely crossed the goal line with 9:36 to go. Will Malcom took matters into his own hands in the middle of the fourth, scoring on an outside sweeper short handed with 6:37 left, and then finishing off a Callum Crawford pass with a quick stick on the powerplay with 3:17 to go.

With less than a minute to play, Dhane Smith found Tehoka Nanticoke in front to give the Bandits the lead back. Evan Messenger scooped up the crucial loose ball on the ensuing faceoff to give Panther City an immediate possession in their quest to re-tie the game. Jonathan Donville’s initial shot attempt of the possession was blocked by his Back of the Bird partner, Paul Dawson, but the rebound went out wide and reached Jason Knox, who passed to Callum Crawford for the outside shot with 2 seconds left on the shot clock and 19.8 to go in the game to tie it at 11. Donville was stopped cleanly on the final possession by Matt Vinc to force overtime, but in no ways was that his last shot of the game. Off a reset, Crawford dished to a fading Donville off a screen for the midrange dagger to give Panther City the win. It was their third OT win in five such games this season, including the second that was finished with a Donville goal. Both teams are 7-7 following the game, with Panther City in 6th and Buffalo in 7th with the head-to-head tiebreaker..

Will Malcom led Panther City with 4 goals and 3 assists and the OT hero Jonathan Donville had 3 goals and 2 assists. Callum Crawford had a goal and 3 assists in return from injury. Along with his goal, Nick Damude made 51 saves, including a point blank save on a Josh Byrne crease dive before the possession where PCLC scored.

Josh Byrne led Bandits with 5 goals and 2 assists, and Dhane Smith had 2 goals and 5 assists for matching 7 point games. Chris Cloutier and Tehoka Nanticoke each had a goal and 3 assists, and Kyle Buchanan added a goal and 2 assists. Matt Vinc made 36 saves in the loss.

Colorado Mammoth 13 – Rochester Knighthawks 7

Once again, Ryan Lanchbury had the first goal of the game to propel the Knighthawks to an early strong start, and then he had the second three minutes later. Connor Robinson put the Mammoth on the board with 8:09 left in the opening quarter, but the Knighthawks had two more. First on an Ryan Smith off his opposite foot and then a Connor Fields drive to the net made it 4-1, overcoming another marker earlier in the period being called back by a crease call.

After 15 minutes, the Knighthawks had outshot the Mammoth 22-5. If not for 18 saves from Dillon Ward, it could have gotten much more out of hand. This is called foreshadowing.

In a calmer second quarter, Ben McDonald’s first NLL goal and a powerplay goal from Zed Williams got the Mammoth back within 1, but a second goal from Fields ensured a multiple goal lead for the Knighthawks heading into the half.

But whatever happened in the Mammoth locker room during the break worked. While Baby Shark playing in Ball Arena, Brett Craig scored in transition 1:25 into the quarter, and then after going back to Baby Shark, a multiple shot possession ended in Eli McLaughlin tying the game at 5 with 12:12 left in the quarter. After getting a stop on the ensuing possession, the Mammoth took the lead courtesy of Zed Williams, again with more Baby Shark. A Mammoth faceoff win led to a second goal from McLaughlin. With Doug Buchan in the same for Riley Hutchcraft for the next two minutes before the under 10 timeout, McLaughlin got the ball in the post with the forward Lanchbury on him, and with Baby Shark once again on play, he faked walking out before drop stepping back to the net to make it 8-5. The friendly family of pointy toothed fish called it a night after the under 10, but that didn’t stop the Mammoth from adding another goal with a Connor Robinson powerplay tally. The Knighthawks ended 6-0 run with a powerplay goal of their own from Ryan Smith, but Zed scored again from midrange to cap off a 7-1 third quarter with a 10-6 Mammoth lead after 3.

It was Zed completing the hat trick to open up scoring in the fourth while shorthanded, and then after Connor Fields completed the hat trick halfway through the fourth, scoring stopped until Eli McLaughlin and Dylan Kinnear added empty net insurance to give the home Mammoth a 13-7 win against the Knighthawks, dropping Rochester to 6-7 and improving their own record to 5-9.

Eli McLaughlin and Zed Williams had 4 goals and 3 assists as part of the explosion in the third quarter, with Dillon Ward’s save total finishing at 44 to limit the Knighthawks to a single goal in each of the final 3 quarters. Connor Robinson had 2 goals and 3 assists, while Brett Craig had a goal and 4 assists out of the back door.

For Rochester, Ryan Lanchbury had a team-high 2 goals and 3 assists, with Connor Fields adding 3 goals and an assist and Ryan Smith scoring twice and adding an assist. No other Knighthawks found the back of the net.

NLL Week 17 Around The League

Calgary Roughnecks 10 – Albany FireWolves 9 F/OT

Albany used a 3-0 fourth quarter to erase a 9-6 deficit after 3, but it was Tanner Cook scoring the overtime winner for the Roughnecks to drop Albany to their third straight loss and keep the Riggers in the mix in the playoff race. Both Christian Del Bianco and Doug Jamieson made 46 saves in a relatively even game where both teams took their runs back and forth. Tyler Pace had 4 goals and 2 assists to lead Calgary, while Jesse King had 2 goals and 3 assists. Tye Kurtz led the FireWolves with 3 goals and 2 assists.

Toronto Rock 9 – Halifax Thunderbirds 8 F/OT

After the Thunderbirds scored 7 of the first 10, the Rock scored 6 of the last 7. Tom Schreiber used a series of fakes to tie the game in the final minute before Mark Matthews got the OT winner 2:25 in to give the Rock their 12th win of the season. Schreiber and Matthews were joined by Dan Craig with 2 goals and an assist, and Corey Small had 3 assists to match the high point total for the Rock. Ryan Benesch led the Thunderbirds with 2 goals and 3 assists.

Vancouver Warriors 21 – Philadelphia Wings 12

The Warriors fired early and often for the full 60 on their way to a 21-12 blowout of the Wings, which was led by the third 8 game goal of the NLL season, this time from Keegan Bal, who also had 5 assists. Riley Loewen also reached double digits with 3 goals and 7 assists, an assist number that was matched by Adam Charalambides as well. Ryan Martel also had a strong night with 4 goals and 4 assists. For the Wings, BC Native, Mitch Jones, was the leading point getter with 4 goals and 5 assists. Holden Cattoni had 3 goals and 3 assists, with Joe Resetarits adding 2 goals and 3 assists and 4 assist games from Blaze Riorden and Sam LeClair.

New York Riptide 14 – Saskatchewan Rush 11

Thirteen points on fourteen goals from Jeff Teat (4G 9A) sent the Riptide to a home win to secure a season split of the home-and-home with the Rush and a return to the 8th seed in the playoff race. Larson Sundown had 2 goals and 6 assists, and Taggart Clark had a first half hat trick. Robert Church had 4 goals and 2 assists, and Ryan Keenan had 3 goals and 3 assists for the Rush.

San Diego Seals 10 – Las Vegas Desert Dogs 9

The Desert Dogs fired the first punches of the night with a 5-1 opening quarter in their quest to get a season sweep over the rival Seals, but San Diego meticulously worked their way back and ended up forcing the fourth overtime game of the weekend, where Tre LeClaire was the hero 54 seconds in. The goal finished off a 3 goal 3 assist night for LeClaire, who trailed only Wes Berg’s 2 goals and 6 assists in leading the Seals. Austin Staats added a goal and 4 assists and Jacob Dunbar had 2 goals and 2 assists. Chris Origlieri got the win with 40 saves. Vegas got a quartet of four point scorers, with Zack Greer and Rob Hellyer having 2 goals and 2 assists and Dylan Watson and Jack Hannah a goal and 3 assists. 18 saves from Landon Kells in the first quarter ensured the hot start for the Desert Dogs on the way to 54 saves despite the loss. With their third win in a row and Albany’s third loss in a row, the Seals have officially moved to a full game up on the FireWolves for the 2 seed while also owning the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Georgia Swarm 9 – Saskatchewan Rush 7

For the first time in NLL history, a team that was shut out in the first half went on to win the game, as the Swarm had all 26 of their shots on goal turned away by Frank Scigliano and trailed 4-0 at the half, but 3 in the third and a 6-1 fourth quarter were enough to get them in the win column. Lyle Thompson finished and Andrew Kew each had 3 goals and 2 assists to lead the Swarm, including Thompson scoring the 7-6 and 7-7- goals and Kew with the go ahead marker. Brady Kearnan entered the lineup for the injured Zach Miller and pitched in with 3 assists. Robert Church had 4 goals and 2 assists for the Rush, but the story for them was Scigliano’s 44 saves and the first half shutout as the Swarm outshot the Rush 53-37 on goal. The win moved the Swarm into the 4-seed heading into one of their two remaining bye weeks in the final weeks of the season.

Week 18 Already Started?

Yup. The Wings and Rush played their makeup game from a cancellation in mid-January last night for some rare Thursday Night lacrosse.

Saskatchewan Rush 16 – Philadelphia Wings 12

And in that Thursday Night lacrosse, the Rush used 4 goals per quarter and a slow offensive start for the Wings to get back in the win column with a 16-12 victory to stay in the playoff mix at 6-8. It was also the second game in a row that the road team got out to a 6-1 lead over the home Wings. Robert Church and Ryan Keenan combined for 5 goals and 10 assists to lead the way with some more veteran leadership, and Zach Manns and Clark Walter each added hat tricks. Frank Scigliano made 35 saves in the win. Seven point efforts from Mitch Jones and Holden Cattoni led the Wings, each of Cattoni’s goals coming in the fourth quarter on the powerplay. Blaze Riorden had a goal and 5 assists, and Sam LeClair had 3 goals.

Week 18 Preview

Buffalo Bandits (7-7) @ Philadelphia Wings (5-9) – Saturday March 30, 1:00 pm

The biggest thing that will stand out in previewing this game will be that the Wings are now 1-7 at home entering their final game at Wells Fargo Center this season while 4-2 on the road. If there was a game to get Buffalo’s 2-4 road record steered back in the right direction, it would be these circumstances. They will also get Chase Fraser back from injury after he missed last week. The Bandits have won 7 of the 8 all time matchups with the current era of the Wings that joined the league in 2018-19, with last season’s results being a 13-9 win on the road and a 13-12 overtime win in Buffalo three weeks later.

Rochester Knighthawks (6-7) @ Halifax Thunderbirds (8-7) – Saturday March 30, 7:00 pm
Three up, six down, three up is how the first 12 games have gone for the Knighthawks, so the opportunity to erase last week’s loss with a win against a familiar group would be a good result not only for their overall record to get back to .500 but also in preventing another streak. Rochester’s loss in Halifax on January 27 was the third of that six in a row. Last season a home win against the Thunderbirds was was snapped a two game skip after their 6-0 start to the season.

Appropriately considering the turn to the spring and the opponent, the Knighthawks will be hosting Roc The Rink night, wearing Lilac-themed jerseys and matching the springtime celebrations with a 5,000 egg Easter egg hunt as part of a celebration of the 585.

Vancouver Warriors (5-9) @ Las Vegas Desert Dogs (4-10) – Saturday March 30, 10:00 pm

The Desert Dogs aim to earn a split of the season series with the Warriors in their home leg. The Warriors won 13-12 two weeks ago in the other matchup, and now having won 3 of their last 4, they have yet to officially be eliminated from contention, but are realistically a single win from those aspirations fading to 2025.