Saturday’s tilt between the Toronto Rock and Buffalo Bandits is a must win for Toronto. They have suffered two losses to Rochester and and one to Georgia. Buffalo split their first two games; a win over Calgary and a loss to Colorado in overtime, both one goal games.
The defending Eastern Conference champion Rock cannot go down four straight to start the season and expect to have success later. With only 18 games in the season, teams have limited time to make an impact on the standings. The more other teams win and the more the Rock lose put them in a difficult position.
The Bandits sit in the middle of the standings, a good position at this time of the season, although with a record of 1-1 it’s hard to tell just yet how they will trend over the course of the year.
The Rock have scored a league low 19 goals while giving up the second most at 36. Neither Nick Rose or Brandon Miller have found a groove this season while playing in front of a struggling defense that starts to look defeated as soon as they get down a couple of goals.
Only six Toronto players have scored in three games. Rob Hellyer leads with seven goals while Brett Hickey has five. Rookie forwards Dan Lintner and Turner Evans have yet to impact the scoring although their overall play has looked promising.
Buffalo’s best players have been their best players, with Dhane Smith, Ryan Benesch, and Mark Steenhuis leading the way offensively. Several defensemen have chipped in as well, including transition player Nick Weiss with two goals. Anthony Cosmo has started both games for the Bandits so far, although his backup Davide DiRuscio will be more than capable of guarding the net if/when he is called upon.
Jay Thorimbert has been perfection on faceoffs, winning 62 percent. Patrick Merrill for the Rock has been great as well, winning 50 percent of his draws.
Game time is 7:30 p.m. and it can be viewed in both the US and Canada on FOX Sports Go.
