The Buffalo Bandits (2-1) and the New England Black Wolves (2-1) will face off in the first of three important divisional showdowns during the 2016 NLL regular season tonight at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The last time these two teams met was a 2015 week 18 battle at the First Niagara Center where the Bandits emerged victorious with the 20-10 home victory.
As the old saying goes, that was then and this is now.
During the NLL offseason the Black Wolves made some incredibly important strides to bolster their burgeoning talent on offense with the trade that brought in forward Shawn Evans from Calgary. The 29 –year-old forward from Peterborough, Ontario is currently ranked 15th in the league in points with 15, along with the distinction of being the reigning NLL league MVP when he scored 130 points (47G, 83A) in 18 games.
On trying to contain Evans during tonight’s contest, Bandits defensive coach Rich Kilgour said that “Everyone has a plan for him, but he always manages to beat that plan. We just want to make sure that he pays the price for everything that he does. If we can limit him, we feel that we can limit their entire offense, but that’s easier said than done.”
Over the past couple of weeks, the Bandits defense have proven that they’re up for the challenge against the league’s best. No better display of their newfound prowess was found when the Bandits held the Toronto Rock last week to just six goals in their contest.
“We did a great job at not letting them get their feet set and putting them on their heels and that makes a huge difference,” said Kilgour. “If they shoot with someone hitting them or on the run, it’s a huge advantage for us. Anytime you can hold a team to six goals, it’s a great accomplishment in this league.”
This new strategy of high pressure on the ball will definitely come into play tonight and will hopefully also help give the team’s transition game and offense itself a jump start.
“We’ll try and force them to play on the run and under pressure, and with our youth and athleticism this year, we’ll pick up the ball and go the other way with speed,” said Kilgour.
One of the Bandits in particular who has greatly benefitted from all of this is team leading scorer forward Dhane Smith. Smith is currently ranked sixth in the league with 22 points (9G, 13A) and looks to be the offensive keystone for the Bandits tonight against New England.
Accounting for his strong start at the beginning of the season, Smith believes that “John Tavares has been incredible in guiding me and teaching me as the offensive coach and Troy (Cordingley, Bandits head coach) has given me the go-ahead to do more as a player. All of my teammates have helped me out this year and I can’t take full credit for how I’m playing. They’ve all helped me grow a lot as a player.”
Hoping to keep Smith away from the scoreboard during the game tonight will be Black Wolves goalie Evan Kirk and the defense. Kirk leads the league in goals-against average with (7.33) and save percentage (.847) over a span of three games.
