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NLL Buffalo Bandits

Bandits Look to Continue Undefeated Start against Winless Rock

January 10, 2025 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Buffalo Bandits News Release


After a week off, the Buffalo Bandits will return to KeyBank Center for their second home game of the season on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against the Toronto Rock.

The game will be broadcast on CW23 as well as ESPN+ while Canadian viewers can watch the game live on either TSN or the new NLL+ streaming platform. You can listen to the game on the radio locally on WGR550.

Here's everything you need to know ahead of the Bandits' second home game of the season:

Last Time Out

The Bandits are coming off a 13-6 win and season sweep of the Rochester Knighthawks on Dec. 28. The win was marked by the Bandits raising their sixth NLL Championship banner and Matt Vinc saving a career-high and Bandits record 62 shots.

Buffalo opened the scoring 22 seconds into the game with a Dhane Smith goal and scored the next five goals to take a 6-0 lead by the middle of the second quarter. Rochester got as close as 7-4 at the beginning of the third quarter but a four-goal run from the Bandits quelled any chance the Knighthawks had of making the game competitive.

Tehoka Nanticoke led the Bandits in scoring, recording his first hat trick of the year while Josh Byrne (2+9) and Dhane Smith (2+6) notched 11 and eight points, respectively.

"I was a little nervous going into the game that the guys would lose focus because of (the banner raising)," head coach John Tavares said following the win. "Man, they did a great job for 60 minutes from Matt, to the defense, to the offense. Everybody was on all cylinders, and it was a complete game."

Kings of the Hill

Following Rochester's 16-9 win over the previously undefeated Georgia Swarm, the Bandits are now the sole undefeated team in the NLL.

While Buffalo's unmatched 1.000 winning percentage backs up the claim that they've been the best team this season in the NLL, so do the stats.

Buffalo leads the league in goals per game (15.33), goals allowed per game (6.67) and goal differential (8.67). While the Bandits' goals per game are just ahead of the Philadelphia Wings (15.25), and the Bandits allow 2.67 fewer goals per game than second-place Vancouver, their most impressive stat is their goal differential.

The Bandits have won games by 5.42 more goals than Philadelphia, who is second in the league. Buffalo's goal differential is higher than the average amount of goals Toronto scores a game, and less than .09 away from equaling Ottawa's goals-per-game average.

The Bandits being an offensive threat each trip down the floor and possessing a shutdown defense has allowed them to win games handily, winning each of their games by seven goals or more.

Apple Picking

Smith and Byrne have been seeing the field clearly lately, tallying 21 and 20 assists, respectively, good for sixth and seventh place in the NLL despite only playing three games thus far. Calgary's Jesse King is the only other player in the top seven that can say they've notched 20-plus assists in just three games.

Halifax's Randy Staats is in first place in the NLL assist race with 25. If Smith and Byrne both keep up with the apple-picking pace they're at, they will eclipse that number on Friday.

Scouting the Rock

The Toronto Rock are not the team that the Buffalo Bandits have faced four consecutive times in the playoff semifinals.

They're coming into the Week 6 matchup winless and are the only team in the NLL to have not won a game. While the Rock haven't been fully healthy, missing faceoff specialist TD Ierlan and other key pieces like Tom Schreiber, they were blown out in their first two games, losing 11-5 to Ottawa and 15-4 to Albany. The last two games have been closer, losing to Georgia 10-9 and getting swept in the season series by Ottawa in a 12-11 loss on Dec. 28.

Josh Dawick, Mark Matthews and Chris Boushy have been the strong points for Toronto this year, recording 14, 12 and 11 points, respectively as they've tried to hold the fort down with the Rock's injury troubles. Normally steadfast goalkeeper Nick Rose has had his share of struggles this season, ranking tenth among starting NLL goalkeepers in GAA and save percentage.

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