(Photo Credit: Kevin Sousa-NLL)

Well, it happened again.

Buffalo Bandits 12 – Toronto Rock 4

An early Chase Fraser goaltender interference penalty gave the Rock the first good offensive opportunity to get the first lead of the game, but the Bandits PK unit got 2 saves and forced a shot clock violation and turnover to kill it off. With just under 8 minutes to go in the quarter, Mark Matthews was stopped in close by Matt Vinc, and the Bandits went back the other way and got a transition goal from Ian MacKay to make it 1-0 Bandits. Minutes later, Matthews had a pass intercepted by Steve Priolo, who sent Dylan Robinson and Fraser on a 2-on-1 where Fraser made it 2-0. The passing troubles continued for Toronto as Matthews looked for a cutting Justin Martin but they could not complete the pass, and as the Bandits offense got back on the floor, Josh Byrne drove right for a free lane to the net and got his first goal of the game with 1:18 left in the opening quarter. The Rock’s early shot lead was wiped out by 3 Bandit goal first.

About to breakthrough with a first goal of the game, Tom Schreiber found the far corner to beat Matt Vinc, but Chris Boushy had parts of both feet in the crease. While the goal horn blasted and the Rock offense began to celebrate, the Bandits quickly went back the other way with Nick Weiss feeding Chris Cloutier off the bench to make it 4-0 and stun the First Ontario Centre crowd. Some resilience from Buffalo’s offense led to another marker as Josh Byrne rebounded his own wide miss and Kyle Buchanan popped out and turned back towards the net with 3 seconds left on the shot clock and got his first goal of the game. More penalties to the Bandits gave the Rock more powerplay chances, but the Bandit penalty killing unit stood strong for both of them. Another trip to the box ended the quarter, but a 26th save of the half for Vinc on Corey Small preserved a first half shutout.

The third of those second quarter penalties was killed off in the beginning of the second half, and the back and forth five-on-five play resumed with a stalemate until a 2 shot possession just under five minutes in saw Dhane Smith step back from midrange and bounce the 6th Bandits goal past Nick Rose. Buffalo got their first chance at the powerplay midway through the third, but at long last, with 5:56 left in the quarter, Justin Martin gave the Rock their first goal of the game. From Budd Bailey’s Bandits History blog, it was the longest into a game it has taken for a team to score on the Bandits in team history at 39:04, beating the 24:41 he set earlier this season when the Bandits hosted the Mammoth in January. Unfortunately for Toronto, Brandon Robinson finished off a quick stick from Smith just before the man advantage expired. One more penalty on each side finished out the majority of the rest of the quarter before an incomplete pass led to Tehoka Nanticoke diving for the recovery and flipping the ball in the air, where Robinson picked it out of the air and added an 8th Buffalo goal with 13.1 to go.

The forward until for the Rock finally broke through with 12:50 to go in the waning moments of transition, with Tom Schreiber ensuring it wouldn’t be the least amount of goals in a game in NLL history, stinging the near corner with no crease-hovering teammates to potentially pull it back. Kyle Buchanan went bar-down with just under 7 left to extend it to 9-2, and then the Rock’s frustrations boiled over and Billy Hostrowser and Nick Weiss got into a very spirited and bloodied tilt after Hostrowser threw a punch at Weiss as the two teams were coming back on the floor for the ensuing faceoff. The Rock went to the empty net afterwards for a last chance at a comeback to make the game 5-on-5 after taking the extra penalty during the scuffle, but Paul Dawson laid a check on Challen Rogers to ensure a pass breakup and then Matt Vinc picked up the loose ball and sent an outlet pass to Kyle Buchanan, who fired a shot into the empty net. And then on the next possession, Chase Fraser welcomed Troy Holowchuk to the game with a shortside tuck. Corey Small scored with the extra attacker on the next possession to ensure that the Rock wouldn’t share a tie of the fewest goals in a game in NLL history, and then Small added a second goal in the final 2+ minutes before Buffalo got one more from Chris Cloutier to set the final score at 12-4 in Game 1.

With 53 saves on 57 shots faced, the .930 save percentage gives Matt Vinc the Bandits team record for save percentage in a playoff game, once percent higher than the .920 he registered in last year’s championship clincher (Again, per Budd). The record included 19 saves in the fourth quarter. Score effects aplenty, the Rock outshot the Bandits 94-67 but missed the net 37 times to keep the SOG differential at only 57-50. For the Bandits offense, Josh Byrne was the high point getter with a goal and 4 assists. Kyle Buchanan had 3 goals and an assist with Dhane Smith flipped that line with a goal and 3 assists. Chris Cloutier, Chase Fraser, and Brandon Robinson provided 2 goals of secondary scoring each.

Banditland showed up 💪@Vno48 showed love 🙌 pic.twitter.com/bml2mjgKnk

— NLL (@NLL) May 5, 2024

Game 2: Toronto Rock @ Buffalo Bandits – Sunday May 5, 5:30pm – ESPNU

So we’re right back where we were last year with a dominant Game 1 setting the Bandits up riding high with the chance to punch another finals ticket by the end of the weekend, with a Cinco de Mayo gathering in Banditland as part of an ESPNU doubleheader. Only this time, the second game is at home. Not too much has to change gameplan wise for the Bandits, as they look to continue their decade-long playoff winning streak over the Rock.

Albany FireWolves 14 – San Diego Seals 12

The narrative that the youngest team in the NLL in Albany wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure of high-pressure situations continues to be debunked, as the FireWolves traveled to San Diego and got out to the 1-0 series lead on the other side of the bracket.

Dane Dobbie scored 40 seconds in for the Seals, but the after an exchanging of goals from both teams to make it 2-1 Seals, the FireWolves took the first run of the game up to 5-0. The Seals got the final two goals of the first half and some luck to open the second half with a Tre Leclaire pass sneaking all the way into the net, but the FireWolves immediately erased it in less than a minute to turn a one goal lead back into 3 and then going up 11-6 after 3 with a 5-2 third quarter. San Diego scored 4 straight goals in the final 4 minutes to get the deficit back to one, but Wes Berg was called for an offensive violation for swatting the stick out of Colton Watkinson’s hands, and it was the Albany captain who buried the empty netter for the insurance in the series-opening win.

If the aforementioned young team narrative hadn’t been debunked before, a career-high 5 goals and 5 assists from Alex Simmons buried it into the ground, as the rookie of the year frontrunner led his group with timely goals all night. Ethan Walker had 2 goals and 5 assists to lead the lefties, while Tye Kurtz had a goal and 4 assists. Like Toronto, the home Seals had a lot of trouble with their shooting, missing the net on 30 of their 69 shot attempts. Curtis Dickson (4G 2A), Wes Berg (2G 4A), and Austin Staats (1G 5A) each had 6 points for the Seals while Dane Dobbie added 3 goals and an assist.

Game 2: San Diego Seals @ Albany FireWolves – Sunday May 5, 3:00pm – ESPNU

For the second straight 3pm Sunday, the FireWolves are a win away from advancing to the next round of the playoffs. The Seals won in their trip to Albany back in January and will need to do so again to force a Game 3 next weekend.