When the NLL released the official injury report for Game 1 late Friday afternoon, Josh Byrne appeared questionable. By Saturday afternoon, that designation went from a curiosity to a cause for concern as the team placed Byrne on injured reserve following the shootaround. The injury was revealed on the broadcast open as Upper-Body.

The move is retroactive to May 14, so with the NLL’s IR ruling being 4 days and a game, he is not ruled out yet for Monday’s Game 2, but that’s a problem for the Bandits in the latter half of the long weekend. They still had to figure out how to overcome the absence in Game 1 in a matchup where they were already needed to solve a Mammoth defense that has held the Bandits to 8 goals in each of their last three matchups in the last 365 days.

First Quarter: Great Dhane

The Bandits wasted no time showing that their offense had a new plan to attack Dillon Ward, and they stormed out to the first 4 goals of the game over the first 8:16. On the first Bandits’ possession, Chris Cloutier found Dhane Smith backdoor and buried the quick stick to get on the board first. Smith scored the second goal as well with 12:58 left in the quarter, firing from midrange through traffic. Chase Fraser joined in on the scoring with a hustle play to make it 3-0, scooping an open ball in the crease that Ward had thought was under his leg pad and burying it. Then when the Bandits went to the first powerplay of the game, it was once again Smith finding the back of the net with a bouncer at the top of the formation.

An early hat trick from Smith was a massive sign towards adjustments from the Bandits’ offense, as he only had 3 goals and 3 assists total in those final two games of last year’s finals. The MVP candidate stepped up and showed early that he could take even more of the reigns with Byrne out.

After very few chances to open up the game, a transition marker from Evan Downey put the Mammoth on the scoreboard for the first time with 4:49 left in the quarter. A little over a minute later, Ryan Lee used the turf monster to fire a bouncer over the shoulder of Matt Vinc and make it 4-2. But the Bandits countered on Dhane Smith’s fourth in the first 12 minutes, the most goals for a player in a quarter in the finals since 2002. However for the Bandits, this goal would only end up sandwiched within the Mammoth’s offense getting in rhythm, as Zed Williams got his first of the night on a crease drive with 52 seconds left in the quarter, and then the Mammoth scored on their 6-on-5 possession to end the quarter as Tyson Gibson fed Eli McLaughlin on the crease to make it 5-4 after 15.

Second Quarter: Colorado Punches Back

The lefties joined the scoresheet in the second quarter for the Bandits, starting with Ian MacKay being uncontested on a late change and spinning off of Warren Jeffrey to beat Ward and make it 6-4. But then the Mammoth got going, as Eli McLaughlin set up three straight Colorado goals to give the defending champs their first lead of the game, with two going to Tyson Gibson and one to Connor Robinson. Chase Fraser had a chance to make it 7-6 Bandits before the second Gibson goal, but the tip of his shoe was on the crease line and it was overturned by a challenge — Talk about a game of inches there.

Brad McCulley was able to tie it up at 7 with 5:16 left in the half, but Ryan Lee was able to give the Mammoth the 8-7 lead on a crease attack off of a broken play, and that would be the score that took the two teams into the half. Colorado had settled in during that quarter and took advantage of a pair of Bandits penalties to get their offense into a groove that the Bandits’ defense did not allow in the first.

Third Quarter: Just Your Friendly Neighborhood Bandits Run

The final 38 seconds of a first-half-ending penalty to Warren Jeffrey carried into the second half, and the Bandits were able to score another half-opening goal with Tehoka Nanticoke setting up in the middle of the Mammoth’s zone defense and burying a pass from Ian MacKay to tie the game back up at 8. The Bandits took a penalty on their first defensive possession of the quarter, but they were able to kill off the ensuing powerplay and got a shorthanded goal as Chase Fraser fired a surprise outside shot that had the defense and Dillon Ward not set, and the Bandits took the lead back. As that penalty expired, Nick Weiss re-joined the floor and immediately joined a 3-on-1 that would end with him feeding Dhane Smith for his fifth goal of the game to make it 10-8. After Nanticoke got open again in front of the net and scored after receiving a pass from Chris Cloutier, the Bandits had their second 4-0 run of the game.

Colorado ended the run there, as Eli McLaughlin beat Matt Vinc over the shoulder off the crossbar and in, but once again, Nanticoke found himself camped in front of the net and finished off a passing string from MacKay and Fraser with a couple of pump fakes and a shot over the shoulder of Dillon Ward with 8 minutes left in the quarter. The defenses were locked in from there and the game remained 12-9 after three quarters.

Fourth Quarter: Tight Margins

Penalties became the best release from the defense’s lock-in continuing in the final frame with champion-level deadlock. The Mammoth opened up the fourth cutting the deficit back to two as Chase Fraser took a holding penalty towards the end of the third quarter that Zed Williams capitalized on with a low sweeping shot to beat Matt Vinc. After Robert Hope took a cross-checking penalty with 12:48 left, Chase Fraser scored his third goal of the game from midrange. 24 seconds later, Chris Wardle scored the only even-strength goal of the quarter, getting the first step out in front of Dylan Robinson to beat him and get a free run at the net. After another segment of 4-5 minutes of strong defense, Chris Cloutier got to the net and beat Ward with 5:54 to play, but his body landed in the crease before the ball crossed the goal line and a challenge waved it off. As part of the commotion following the uncertainty of the goal, Fraser was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, and Eli McLaughlin scored to make it 13-12 as opposed to the 14-11 lead the Bandits thought they were getting before the challenge.

With a couple of Mammoth clock violations and Bandits’ multiple shot possessions, the clock quickly wound down on the Mammoth’s quest to tie the game. The final two minutes saw the Bandits’ defense breakup a pass attempt from Ryan Lee to Dylan Kinnear with 1:27 left, and then the Bandits got another multiple-shot possession thanks to Brad McCulley rebounding a saved Dhane Smith shot. The Bandits were unable to get a shot over the rest of the possession, and Pat Coyle called timeout with 36.3 seconds left.

Connor Robinson got the after-timeout look but his shot was blocked in front of the net. After Tyson Gibson rebounded the blocked shot, Ryan Lee got a bouncer off with 13.4 seconds to play, but Matt Vinc made the save and the Bandits called their timeout. Dhane Smith ran some clock and fired the ball down the floor, Colorado took the ball back and looked to get one more look, but by the time Zed Williams got the ball behind the Bandits’ net and looked for a dunk to the left side of Matt Vinc, time had expired, and the Bandits had themselves a 13-12 victory in Game 1.

Buffalo outshot Colorado 54-43 and won the faceoff battle 17-12. Both teams with 4 for 5 on the powerplay.

The Bandits accounted for the absence of Josh Byrne with the entire right side stepping up with strong performances. Dhane Smith led his side with 5 goals and an assist, and while not finding the back of the net, Kyle Buchanan matched that point total with 6 assists. Tehoka Nanticoke had 3 goals and 2 assists, and Chase Fraser also had 3 goals including the winner. The Bandits only got two total goals from the left side, but they also saw solid point totals, and it was Ian MacKay leading the Bandits in points with a goal and 6 assists. Chris Cloutier had his goal taken off the board from a challenge, but he still put up 4 assists.

The two Mammoth forwards that missed their team’s two finals wins last year due to injury, Ryan Lee and Eli McLaughlin, each had 6 points to lead the team, with McLaughlin getting 3 goals and Lee getting 2. Zed Williams had 2 goals and 3 assists, and Connor Robinson had a goal and 4 assists.

Game 2 – Monday, May 29 4:00 pm Eastern on ESPN2 and TSN

As was the case last year, the Bandits are one win away from their fifth championship and their first since 2008. The two teams will get on a plane on Sunday and head to Denver for Game 2 on Monday.

Of course, the biggest X-Factor will likely be the health status of Josh Byrne’s upper-body injury, but it will likely not be until the waning hours before the game that we learn if he will be taken off injured reserve ahead of the game.

Without having looked too closely at the film outside of the live watch and some highlights, it seemed like both teams executed their game plans well, but they would each agree that staying out of the box would make following that plan easier and make things easier for their goaltenders who each played well when the game was 5-on-5.

Photo Credit: Michael Hetzel/NLL