Over 17,000+ braved the wind and snow to file into KeyBank Center on Saturday night. The hometown Bandits were back on their home floor, this time welcoming the Halifax Thunderbirds to town.
This game is a must watch if you’re a lacrosse fan, as it had quite literally, everything. Scoring, stingy defense, stingier goaltending, and even some overtime. Buffalo controlled this game for the majority, but Halifax wouldn’t go away. After a no-goal call as time expired, this one was headed to overtime, where Halifax needed just 26 seconds to beat Buffalo, stunning the home crowd. Your final, 9-8 T-birds.
The first quarter of this game felt like it took three hours. There were 16 combined penalty minutes, 30 combined shots, and seven combined goals. Dhane Smith kicked off the scoring with two-straight, that were 27 seconds apart. Halifax answered right back with two of their own, one from Dawson Theede on the power play, and the other from Jason Knox. The rest of the first was all Buffalo, as they closed it out with three-straight goals, a flurry of shots, and very stout defense. The goals were scored by Ian MacKay, the 100th of his career, Ryan Benesch on the power play, and Josh Byrne. It deserves reiteration that the penalty minutes and overall physicality for the entirety of the frame would have led you to believe that this game could have exploded at any moment. Nonetheless, we sat at 5-2 Buffalo after one.
The second quarter slowed right down. It was incredible to see after how crazy the first was. Theede led off the scoring with his second but was followed by Byrne’s second. Clarke Petterson closed out the quarter with his first, and that’d be it for the first half. Defense was great, goaltending was better, and the physicality died down significantly. 6-4 Bandits at the break.
As we said, both goaltenders were other-worldly in the first half. Warren Hill, who had the game of a lifetime last week, faced a staggering 31 shots, stopping 25 of them. Matt Vinc was as stellar as ever, stopping 18 of 22.
The game slowed down even more in the third quarter, as there were only two goals scored this time, one from each side. The first was from Smith on the power play, giving him the hat trick. The other was from Theede, also giving him a hat trick. More outrageous defense and limiting transition was the story. 7-5 Buffalo after three.
Halifax was doing just enough to stay within arm’s reach, and they finally broke through in the fourth quarter. They scored three-straight goals spanning the first 9+ minutes of the frame, and the momentum had shifted. Those three goals were scored by Petterson, Knox, and Cody Jamieson. One thing we’ve learned over the last few years is to never count Buffalo out. That fact remained true, but only for a moment. Byrne completed his hat trick in a big way, as it tied the game back up with 3:09 to play, and this goal was the 250th of his career. As the intro stated, Halifax thought they won it in regulation, however after a review, the goal was called back as the game clock expired before the ball crossed the line. Free lacrosse anyone?
Ironically enough, the same person that thought they won it in regulation, won it in overtime. Just 26 seconds into the extra frame, Petterson flew towards the net. After a bit of a shot fake, he fired a shot that beat Vinc short-side and sent the fans home unhappy.
Players of the game for Buffalo were Smith (3+4), Byrne (3+3), and Benesch (1+2). Vinc would absolutely love that last one back, as he usually is very stout in those sudden-death situations. He stopped 32 of 40 in total. For Halifax, Theede (3+2), Petterson (three goals), and Knox (two goals) led the way. Hill has been on quite the heater to start the year. He made 48 saves on 56 shots.
“We came out flat”, said Smith. “We didn’t play to our standards. We had our moments to build momentum, but we let it slip away.”
“Overtime is so crazy”, said Weiss. “We always think we can play one shift and give our offense a chance. But unfortunately, they scored on their first possession and that’s tough to swallow.”
Buffalo looks to have a short memory, but unfortunately, they have another bye week ahead of them. Their next game isn’t until Sunday December 28th when they hit the road to take on Calgary. Faceoff is at 8pm. Halifax looks to keep the momentum rolling. They also have a week off before they return home to take on Saskatchewan. That one is Saturday December 27th at 6pm.
