In the week’s only NLL action the Vancouver Stealth fell to 1-2 on the season in a 14-13 loss to the Buffalo Bandits. With their second straight one-goal victory Buffalo moves to 2-1 on the season.
The game started off much like it finished with Buffalo grabbing the early lead off a Ryan Benesch goal. Cliff Smith would follow up for the Stealth a little more than a minute later, tying the game at 1-1. The Bandits answered back with a three-goal run, goals coming from Mitch Wilde, Joe Resetarits, and Dhane Smith opening up a 4-1 lead. Setting the theme of the game the Stealth clawed back with Rhys Duch, and Tyler Digby closing the gap to one. Dhane Smith would get his second at 14:28 to close out the first quarter with a two-goal Buffalo lead.
Lewis Ratcliff would get things going for the Stealth with his goal 1:14 in. Dhane Smith with his first half hat trick followed, to put the Bandits back up by two. The Stealth would go on a two-goal run, the first goal coming off a beautiful cross crease goal by Joel McCready from Johnny Powless; the second on Justin Salt’s second breakaway goal of the season. Dhane Smith with his dominating performance would get his fourth, followed by goals from Joe Resetarits, and Ryan Benesch. The Bandits would win the second quarter and the half with the 9-6 lead.
Lewis Ratcliff once again came out of the time between quarters on fire, scoring the first two goals of the quarter and one more hat trick in his career. Buffalo would match the Stealth’s effort with goals from Brandon Goodwin and Jerome Thompson. Tyler Digby would close out the third as the Stealth showed heart, taking a 3-2 quarter lead.
Entering the fourth quarter down by two goals the Stealth needed some momentum. They got it from Conrad Chapman as he tallied the first goal of the quarter in Vancouver’s favor. Dhane Smith and Ryan Benesch would continue their clinic on the Stealth’s defense scoring the next two. Joel McCready and Rhys Duch would answer right back for the Stealth keeping them in the game. Joe Resetarits scored what turned out to be the go-ahead goal just past the 11:00 mark. Tyler Digby gave the Stealth a glimmer of hope with the Stealths third power play goal with just under two minutes to play. Buffalo would win the ensuing faceoff and hold on to the win in front of the Stealth’s home crowd.
Notable performances came from Buffalo’s Dhane Smith and Ryan Benesch. Each scoring eight points on the night; five goals and three assists from Smith and three goals, five assists from Benesch. Goalie Anthony Cosmo had 27 saves on 40 SOG for the win. Rhys Duch led the Stealth with his own eight-point game. Duch scored two goals and had six assists in the loss. Stealth goaltender Tyler Richards had an unprecedented 41 saves on Buffalo’s 55 SOG.
Both teams will be back in action next week as Buffalo heads to Toronto on Friday and Vancouver is on the road to Colorado in one of Saturday’s games.
