The league leading Toronto Rock (9-4) became the first NLL team to reach nine victories on Friday night, defeating eastern conference rival the Buffalo Bandits (5-8) 18-11 on home turf. With the win, Toronto clinches the season series with Buffalo two games to one.
After former Rock player Glen Bryan opened the scoring for the Bandits with a shorthanded marker, the Rock answered with a four goal streak before ending the first quarter with 4-2 lead.
A back and forth second quarter was capped off by Buffalo’s Shawn Williams, who netted an extra attacker tally just as the half expired cutting Toronto’s lead to 7-6.
Toronto took control of the game in the third quarter, scoring 7 unanswered goals in the frame including a pair from captain Colin Doyle to start the scoring run.
Rob Hellyer’s second of the game and a shorthanded tally by Kasey Beirnes extended the Rock lead to 16-6 under two minutes into the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach for the Bandits.
Colin Doyle (3 g, 4 a) and Garret Billings (1 g, 6 a) continued to carry the high powered Toronto offense, combining for 14 points. Heading into Saturday’s games, Billings leads the NLL in points (86) and assists (61). Doyle trails closely behind, ranking third league wide in both points (76) and assists (53).
Kasey Beirnes found the back of the net 4 times, leading all goal scorers on the night and placing him first on Toronto in tallies with 26 on the season.
Appearing in his first game in almost a month, Rob Hellyer notched his first career NLL hat-trick in the victory. Roger Vyse dressed in his first game as a member of the Rock, burying one goal against his former Buffalo teammates.
Dhane Smith and John Tavares led the Bandits offensively with 4 points each.
Derek Hopcroft had 3 points, in addition to a fight, in the loss. Hopcroft has 9 points in three games since joining the Bandits from the Toronto Shooting Stars of the Canadian Lacrosse League (CLax). Bandits Rookie Kevin Brownell netted his first career goal with a late marker.
After allowing 11 goals on 38 shots, Bandits net-minder Anthony Cosmo was replaced by Kurtis Wagar. Wagar picked up the loss for Buffalo, giving up 7 goals on 15 shots.
Nick Rose registered the win for Toronto, turning aside 31 of 41 shots. Rose currently leads all NLL goalies in wins (9) and saves (505). Rock back-up Zack Boychuck allowed 1 goal on 4 shots in slightly over three minutes of action.
The loss extends the Bandits’ losing streak to five games, with the team currently sitting in last place in the eastern conference standings.
Toronto will look to continue their momentum as they travel to Blue Cross Arena tonight for a match-up with the Rochester Knighthawks (4-6) at 7:30 p.m. Toronto defeated Rochester with an 11-7 road win in the only previous meeting between the two teams this season. Both Rochester and Toronto suffered losses at the hands of the Edmonton Rush last weekend.
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