The Buffalo Bandits defence was front and centre in the second half, allowing them to outlast the Saskatchewan Rush on Saturday night, earning the 9-7 win.
The Bandits remain in first place in the NLL, with a 9-1 record while the Rush fall to 9-3, but remain solidly in second place.
Goaltending on both ends of the floor was exceptional with Buffalo’s Matt Vinc and Saskatchewan’s Frankie Scigliano making stop after stop, often in spectacular fashion. As a result, the first goal wasn’t scored until almost seven minutes in when the Rush’s Josh Zawada made a hard cut to the middle, received a pass from Brock Haley in the corner, and snapped it home.
Less than two minutes later, Josh Byrne tied the game up on a crease dive. This was followed quickly by Chase Fraser giving the Bandits a one-goal lead. The Rush retook the momentum in the final five minutes of the quarter however, going on a three-goal run and grabbing the lead back.
In the second quarter, a power play marker by Zach Manns, his third goal of the game, put the Rush up by three. But that was the last goal Vinc and his defence would allow for more than a half hour of game time. Fraser scored his second of the night late in the quarter to reduce the lead to two, but neither goaltender allowed their opponent to get on a run.
In the third quarter, Tehoka Nanticoke got things going for the Bandits by slashing through the defence and burying one at the 7:54 mark. It would be another four minutes before Fraser got his second of the game to tie things up. And a minute-and-a-half later, Nanticoke’s second of the quarter put the Bandits back in the lead.
Manns scored his fourth of the game at the 11:22 mark of the fourth quarter to tie the game again and break the Rush scoring drought which had lasted 30 minutes, 21 seconds. Buffalo responded three-and-a-half minutes later to grab the lead again, then added another with just two minutes remaining to put it out of reach. The rush played most of the remainder of the game with an empty net, trying desperately to tie the game but to no avail—the teams exchanged goals in the dying moments of the game and the Bandits emerged with the win.
Byrne led the way for Buffalo with two goals and four assists. Manns and his four goals paced the Rush attack.
On the other end of the floor, Vinc made 41 saves to earn the victory while Scigliano stopped 36 shots in the loss.
Buffalo’s next test is at home against the Calgary Roughnecks (6-6) on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Rush travel to Georgia to take on the Swarm.
