The Buffalo Bandits (10-7) and the New England Black Wolves (4-12) will face off in their final of four 2015 NLL regular season matchups on Saturday May 2nd at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo.
In their first two meetings of the regular season, the Black Wolves defeated the Bandits by scores of 12-8 and 12-11. In their third meeting between these two teams, the Black Wolves were looking to clinch the season series against Buffalo and keep their playoff chances alive. Unfortunately for the Black Wolves, they met a rejuvenated Bandits team that was hungry and determined to clinch that final playoff spot in the East. In the 20-9 road victory against the Black Wolves, Mark Steenhuis had five goals and six assists while the four goals that Ryan Benesch scored during the game helped him set the new franchise goal scoring record with 52.
After Saturday’s game against the Black Wolves, the Bandits will be on the road for the opening round of playoffs. If New England is able to come away with the victory against the Toronto Rock on Friday and Rochester defeats Minnesota on Saturday, the Knighthawks would win the NLL Eastern Division and Buffalo would face Toronto in the opening round. If Toronto wins their game against New England, the Rock would win the NLL Eastern Division and Buffalo will face Rochester in the opening round.
During the NLL coach’s conference call earlier in the week, Bandits assistant coach Dan Teat addressed the importance of ending the regular season on a good note before the playoffs begin.
“We’ve done real well at home and owe our fans who have been there every game another real good effort on Saturday night before we hit the road. We want to finish on a strong note at home.”
One of the major keys to the Bandits’ recent success has been their focus to detail and playing an excellent all-around game. The continuation of this process on Saturday will be their key to tying up the season series against the Black Wolves.
Bandits assistant captain Billy Dee Smith addressed the importance of how focusing on their strengths will be key to long term success for the playoffs.
“You want to be sharp on the power-play, you want to be good on the man-down and on defense you want to pack it in and tight to limit shooters from getting the shots they want to shoot. Going in, you want to treat every game like a playoff game when you’re this close so you go in sharp.”
While Buffalo will be riding high heading into the playoffs, the Black Wolves will be left behind and wondering where the season went wrong. Losing 12 of 14 games will be a hard pill to swallow for Black Wolves general manager Rich Lisk since the team also tried to address those woes during the trade deadline by acquiring big name players like former Swarm captain Andrew Suitor and Rock forward Garrett Billings.
“It’s been a different year, I’ll say that, but it’s been a process too,” said Lisk during the coaches’ conference call. “We didn’t expect just to come straight from Philadelphia into New England and have immediate success. We’re in this for the long haul and believe that the team that we’ve put together is built for the future.”
