For the fifth consecutive season, the NLL Finals came to us from KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. The hometown Buffalo Bandits welcomed the Saskatchewan Rush for a clash of the league’s top two teams. Moreover, it would be a rematch of the 2016 NLL Finals that saw Saskatchewan beat the Bandits. This year was a bit different, as the Rush were looking towards “destiny” as they looked to return to the promised land. Buffalo, looked towards “history” as they looked to become the second team in NLL history to complete the three-peat.
Saskatchewan looked as though they were in control of the game, as they held the lead for a good amount of time, specifically in the third quarter as they boosted their lead to two goals a handful of times. However, that stingy Buffalo defense reared its head, as the Bandits held the Rush scoreless in the fourth quarter and finished the game on a four-goal run. Game one to Buffalo, by the score of 12-10.
Banditland is different, we’ve seen that over the years. But PLAYOFF Banditland? That’s a whole different story. The place was jumping from the word go, but it was quickly silenced as Saskatchewan rattled off two quick goals to open things up. The first was a quick stick from Clark Walter just 22 seconds in, and the other was a sick crease dive from Levi Anderson. Guess what? Buffalo answered right back with two of their own. The first was a laser from Josh Byrne and the other was equally as sick of a crease dive from Kyle Buchanan. Austin Shanks continued his heater as of late with his first that gave the Rush the lead back. 3-2 Saskatchewan after one.
Brock Haley opened the scoring for Saskatchewan with his first just under a minute into the second quarter, which also gave the Rush their second two-goal lead of the game. After about six-or-so minutes of back-and-forth, here came the Bandits once again. Buffalo stormed back and scored three-straight in just over two minutes to take their first lead of the game. The first two goals were Buffalo’s hottest shooter at the moment, Ian MacKay. The first was a laser from the outside that picked a corner. The second saw Mickey come screaming in towards the crease, receiving a pass while jumping and slamming it home. The third goal of the run was courtesy of Chase Fraser, with a crease crash of his own.
Time out from the second quarter as we have to address a milestone. With his second assist of the night on MacKay’s first goal, Dhane Smith is now the all-time leader in playoff points, as he passed his own coach, John Tavares. Unreal stuff from an unreal player.
Back to the action in the second. The Rush regained their lead with two-straight, one from Mike Messenger from just about the restraining line, and the other from Shanks. MacKay completed the hat trick in the waning seconds to tie it right back up going into halftime. 6-6 at the break.
“We have to get a lot more loose balls”, said MacKay. “They’re outshooting us 28-21, they’re getting a lot of second chance opportunities on defense. Our defense has been on the floor a lot, we’d like to get theirs on a bit more.”
The goaltender battle was one to watch as well, as we had two Goaltender of The Year finalists facing off, one of which ended up being the winner. On one side, Matt Vinc was stout considering all the shots he faced, stopping 22 of 28. On the other side, we had the newly crowned GOTY, Frank Scigliano. Same went for Frankie, as he was as stout as ever, stopping 15 of 21.
Saskatchewan opened the third the same way they opened the game, with two quick goals to set the tone. Both of those goals were courtesy of Zach Manns. MacKay buried his fourth in response, this one on the power play, but the Rush were right there to answer back as Ryan Keenan tallied his first. Smith continued tacking on to his playoff points record with his first goal of the game, but Shanks answered back with his hat trick. Little did the Rush know that Shanks’ goal would be the last one they’d score in this game. Buffalo ended the third quarter on a three-goal run and completely took over. Those three goals were scored by Smith twice and Buchanan. 11-10 Buffalo after three.
The fourth quarter was a track meet, as both sides ran up and down the floor with some serious pace. Crazily enough, the only goal scored was with 12 seconds left and it was a silly one. Smith had the ball behind the Buffalo net and fired a pass up the floor towards an empty Rush net. Buchanan was streaking to the middle and stuck his stick out. The ball clipped the top of his stick and went into the net. The final time for the Rush scoreless streak was 21:12. All of that said, it gave us our final from always rowdy Banditland, 12-10 Buffalo.
Players of the game for Buffalo were MacKay (4+2), Smith (3+5), and Buchanan (3+1). Vinc was, well, Vinc in the late stages, absolutely standing on his head. He stopped 44 of 54 in total. For Saskatchewan, Shanks (3+5), Manns (2+2), and Walter (1+2) led the way. Scigliano had a great game, just faltering a bit late in the third. He stopped 32 of 43.
“I can score goals”, said Smith. “I just try to help my teammates out to the best of their ability, when I have the shot, I have to shoot it. We’re excited to go there and hopefully punch our ticket.”
Dhane also added, “we have to make sure we go from the opening draw. They’re not just going to give it to us, we understand that, but we’re hungry.”
“It would have been easy for us to fold after the first half”, said Tavares. “But the guys knew what it takes in the second half, and they showed up and were very determined.”
“Heck of a lacrosse game”, said Rush coach Jimmy Quinlan. “It wasn’t for not having chances, we had chances, we just need to be better in a few areas, and we’re excited to get it back this Sunday. I thought we did a good job answering their momentum, they got the last punch, but we’ll have to get the last punch come Sunday.”
Buffalo is sixty minutes away from completing the three-peat. Game two is a day away and if it’s anything like game one, we’re in for a treat. Both teams pack up and ship off to Saskatchewan and the SaskTel Centre. Game two is Sunday night at 8pm.
