It was “wing night” in Buffalo, New York on Saturday night. Years prior, it seemed ironic that Philadelphia came to town for these games, but now it seems like a good marketing ploy. I’ll take a single order of hot, please.
The Bandits came in sitting atop the East Division, while Philadelphia was in the middle of the pack battling for playoff positioning. Buffalo won the other meeting between these two clubs a few weeks ago and came in looking for the season sweep.
There were two huge questions regarding Buffalo coming into this game against the Wings. First, are they the comeback kids? As of late, Buffalo has trailed at halftime and came out firing in the second halves of those games. We’ll see if this continued. Secondly, would their injury-plagued roster continue to step up in big spots to help continue their hot streak? Spoiler alert, both are true.
Buffalo found themselves down at half and battled back in the third quarter. But, much to the pleasure of the 14,000+ in attendance, there was also some free lacrosse. Buffalo snuck out with another victory, this time in overtime, 13-12, clipping the Wings. There was a cost however, as a few big name guys went down and left early for Buffalo.
“It was a nice character win,” said head coach John Tavares after the game. “From all of our wins this year, that win was my favorite. We had five guys go down, two came back, but three did not return. We were low in numbers on that bench on both ends.”
One player that’s really stepped up for Buffalo is Brad McCulley. He continued his recent hot streak by opening up the scoring early in the first. Ben McIntosh had an answer shortly thereafter. MVP contender Dhane Smith notched his first of the game to give Buffalo the lead back, but only for a moment as Joe Resetarits tied it right back up. Is your head spinning yet? Good, that means it’s a good game so far. McCulley notched his second of the night, only to be answered by a four-goal run for Philly. Blaze Riorden and Mitch Jones both scored on the power play and Sam LeClair scored two straight highlight-reel goals. LeClair on two straight possessions found himself falling down on each side of the net. While falling, he had the presence of mind to shovel a shot backwards and scored both times. Cool stuff from the Philadelphia forward. 6-3 Wings after one.
Another player that has really turned it on for Buffalo is Ian MacKay. Mickey has really shown his prowess on the offensive side of the ball over the last few games. This one was no different, as he opened up the second with his first goal of the night. That goal was at the 12:47 mark of the quarter. The next goal wasn’t until the 3:47 mark as Resetarits got his second of the night. McIntosh and Smith traded goals, each their second of the game, to close the quarter out. 8-5 Wings going into the half. Sound familiar, Banditland faithful? The boys in orange and black sure know how to make it interesting.
In the first half, both teams exhibited really fast transition. As far as goaltenders, they saw their fair share of shots as well. Matt Vinc made some timely saves, especially on the Buffalo penalty kills. Vno made 21 saves on 29 shots. On the other side, Zach Higgins shone. He stopped 17 of 22.
“It’s great to be back here,” said Mitch Jones about being back in Buffalo. As far as being the new guy in Philadelphia, he said “it’s been an easy transition for me. I think from the coaching staff, to the personnel, it’s been a lot of fun for me.”
All aboard! The third quarter began and so did the Buffalo comeback train. Kyle Buchanan got the party started as he scored his first of the game. Resetarits quickly answered with his hat trick. Commence the Buffalo comeback. A four-goal run resulted in Buffalo’s first lead since midway through the first quarter. Goal scorers during that run were: Smith twice, McCulley on the power play, and MacKay. That Buffalo lead didn’t last for long as McIntosh and Jones each scored to give Philadelphia an 11-10 lead going into the fourth quarter.
This might come as a surprise, but Buffalo quickly tied the game up and took the lead early in the fourth quarter. MacKay tallied his hat trick on the power play with a slick jump shot to tie it up, and McCulley got his fourth, also on the power play, to give Buffalo the one-goal lead with 9:24 left in the frame.
“That was getting ugly there for a second”, said McCulley. “We just had to find a way to do it. Last week we had a bit of a depth check, and we just had to get it done. I’m getting more comfortable week by week and I’m getting put in spots to get those kinds of points.”
But Riorden scored his second, and more importantly, the tying goal at the 4:13 mark. That’s how regulation would end. Extra lacrosse in the 716. We’re here for it.
The overtime period was short and sweet. Philadelphia won the faceoff, which Trevor Baptiste did a lot of in this game. They drove in and their possession ended with a shot clock violation. Buffalo took their timeout, drove into the zone, and Smith tallied the winner. No, there wasn’t a tornado in Buffalo last night, it was the sigh of relief from the Bandits faithful. Your final, 13-12 Buffalo.
Players of the game for Buffalo were Smith (5+5), McCulley (4+5) and MacKay (3+2). With his performance in this one, Smith eclipsed the 900 career-point mark. Color us shocked. Vinc was world class in the second half. The veteran made a total of 40 saves on 52 shots.
“It’s next man up mentality,” said Smith after the game. “It’s lead by example and hopefully everyone chips in a little bit.”
For Philadelphia, Resetarits (3+4), Jones (2+6) and McIntosh (3+2) led the way. Higgins was an absolute stud in the first half, and did all he could to lead the Wings to victory. The young netminder made 41 saves on 54 shots.
Buffalo (8-2) presumably is very thankful to have a week off to let guys heal up. They travel to Halifax (4-5) next week in a big East Division matchup. That contest is Friday March 3rd at 6:30 pm. As for Philadelphia (3-5), they need to get back on the win train if they want a postseason berth. They travel to New York (2-6) to take on the Riptide, March 4th at 11:30 am. Yes, you read that correctly. 11:30 am start.
