The rivalry continues.
Going into the game Saturday night, Toronto and Buffalo were tied at one game apiece for the season, they are the top two teams in the NLL, and both teams already locked in their spots for the playoffs with no chance of moving up or down in the standings. But wait, there’s more! Both teams are coming off a bye week, both teams are 8-2 over their last 10 games, and the all-time series in games played in Buffalo is tied at 17. Buckle up for another instant classic.
Buffalo completely shut down Toronto for 45 minutes of this game. Problem being, giving a red-hot and very savvy Rock team 15 minutes to make a run can prove to be detrimental to any team. That’s exactly what happened in this one. Toronto makes a huge comeback late and beats Buffalo, 10-7.
“If they (Toronto) can do that now (expose weaknesses), we have to take this as a learning experience and get better for the playoffs”, said Bandits’ head coach John Tavares after the game.
There were only three goals scored in each of the first three quarters. It wasn’t so much a “feeling out” process, but rather very good defense and even better goaltending. The first tally of the game came from Dan Dawson. The big veteran took a pass on the right side of Matt Vinc, stepped up and fired a shot low left. Buffalo answered right back, and with some pizazz. Tehoka Nanticoke took a pass in the middle and got mauled by four Rock defenders. The ball popped out and was scooped up by Kyle Buchanan. Bucky scooped up the loose ball and fired a behind-the-back shot that bounced and beat Nick Rose.
Are you serious!?! Nothing like saving a highlight-reel goal for Week 22 😲
Kyle Buchanan beats Rosey with a Behind-the-back SNIPE#SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/4pvRuuuErB
— NLL (@NLL) April 30, 2022
This game had zero meaning in the standings, but did you really think there’d be no physicality? Not 30 seconds after Buchanan’s goal, Toronto’s Challen Rogers was knocked around like a pinball that resulted in two minor Buffalo penalties at the same time. After a couple crease and shot clock violations, and a little bit of keepaway, Buffalo killed off the five-on-three.
The third and final goal of the quarter was patented Josh Byrne. Byrne’s name has been split by “air” because of his knack for driving to the net and jumping way up to score. Air Byrne, clear for take-off. Byrne took a pass to the left of Rose and drove to the net and got major air going up and slamming a shot down. Toronto successfully matched the five-on three penalty kill at the end of the first after two consecutive penalties against the Rock. 2-1 Bandits after one.
The second quarter was all Buffalo. Again, only three goals were scored, and every one of them was by someone in the orange and black. The first was by Nantioke. The rookie has proven time and time again that he is arguably one of the strongest players in the entire league. He took a pass in the slot, shrugged off two Rock defenders and fired a twister past Rose. Byrne tallied his second of the night about two minutes later, but he stayed on the “runway” for this one. With 8:16 left in the second, Buchanan got his second of the night, to make it 5-1 Buffalo. That’s where the score would stay going into halftime.
While Vinc wasn’t busy, per se, he was near perfect, stopping 15 of 16. Rose was solid, stopping 25 of 30.
Byrne finished the season with 99 points, tied for sixth overall in the league but just shy of the 100-point plateau. Dhane Smith, of course, finished in first place with 135 points. He was held pointless in this game although he managed 11 shots on goal. He came just two points shy his own league record of 137, set in 2016.
“We’re really not too worried about records,” said Byrne at halftime. “We’re just trying to figure it out and get in our groove going into the playoffs.”
The third quarter didn’t see its first goal until the 7:55 mark. Prior, there was a ton of solid goaltending and great transition play. Dan Craig scored on the power play to get Toronto back on the board. Dawson got his second of the night and was answered by Buchanan’s hat trick 10 seconds later. 6-3 Buffalo going into the fourth.
A couple of things: a three-goal lead seemed pretty comfy for Buffalo. Also, keeping Tom Schreiber and Challen Rogers out of the goal column was an amazing feat thus far. Neither one of those facts carried into the fourth quarter.
Up to this point, Toronto’s offense was virtually nonexistent. But they showed their grit and why they’re arguably the hottest team in the league right now. Rogers got his first of the night on the power play, just two minutes into the fourth to start the comeback. Twenty seconds later, Chris Cloutier tallied his first. That’d be the only goal Buffalo would score in the quarter. Schreiber and Rogers scored the next four for the Rock (two goals each), giving Rogers the hat trick and more importantly giving Toronto an 8-7 lead. Sheldon Burns scored and former Bandit Mitch de Snoo put the nail in the coffin with an empty netter. All of a sudden, 10-7 Rock.
Players of the game for Buffalo were Buchanan (three goals), Byrne (2+1) and Vinc, who struggled late, stopping 32 of 42 on the night. For Toronto, Rogers (3+1), Schreiber (2+1), Dawson (2+1) and Rose, who was rock solid all night, stopping 42 of 49. Truthfully, big credit to the entire Rock team for their grit and ability to stay positive. Keeping league leader Dhane Smith out of the point column completely, is quite the task and that’s exactly what the Rock defense did.
The post game press conference for Buffalo was all talks of momentum, playoffs, and looking towards playing fourth-seeded Albany next week.
“You don’t want to go out on a low note,” said Buchanan. “We were 14-4, that’s a heck of a year.”
Captain Steve Priolo said that Albany’s movement stands out.
“They move very well off-ball,” he said. “I know it sounds cliché, but does it matter? Now we know who we’re playing and we have a week to prepare for that.”
It’s playoff time. Buffalo stays home and has a week to prepare for the visiting Albany FireWolves Saturday night. Toronto travels back home as they prepare to take on the Halifax Thunderbirds Friday night. First round of the playoffs is “one and done,” so these two games are going to have fireworks.
