Bandits move within a win of three-peat

By Budd Bailey

The better team doesn’t always win a competitive sporting event.

However, the best player often winds up on the winning side.

Exhibit A for all of that came on Friday night in the KeyBank Center, when the NLL Finals began before 16,761. The Saskatchewan Rush probably had an overall edge in play, jumping out right from the start and staying with the Buffalo Bandits, the two-time defending champions, throughout the game.

But the Bandits still had Dhane Smith, who took over the game when his team needed him to do so. The forward had three goals and two assists in the third period, when Buffalo took the lead for good. The Bandits went on to a 12-10 victory to take the first game of the best-of-three series.

Smith has been great in the postseason in the past. That’s why he passed his coach, John Tavares, as the NLL’s all-time leading scorer in the playoffs along the way Friday. But this might have been one of the great clutch performances in his career. He carried the Bandits on his shoulders at a crucial time.

“Talking about Dhane, he’s the best because he’s very determined to be the best,” Tavares said. "No matter what the score is, he never gives up. He always wants the ball when it matters. He showed it today.”

His efforts were needed because Saskatchewan showed why it had the same regular-season record as Buffalo in the regular season. (The Bandits won the top seed on a tiebreaker.) The Rush scored 22 seconds into the game, and seemed unintimidated by the league’s most intimidating building and crowd. They only trailed for less than four minutes of the first half.

One of the few reasons the Bandits were tied at the half was the play of Ian MacKay, who ran his postseason goal total to 13 – including three scores in the first 30 minutes. Buffalo scored most of its goals during that time in flurries, as Saskatchewan piled up the shots.

“It would have been easy for us to fold up after the first half,” Tavares said. “At times they dominated the play. They had the ball most of the time. But the guys knew what it takes in the second half, and they showed up and they were very determined.”

The Bandits saved their best flurry for the later stages of the third quarter, taking a 12-11 lead with 4:24 left on Smith’s third goal of the game. (He also finished with five assists). From there, the game took a completely unexpected turn: the scoring came to a complete standstill.

If you had a wager that no goals would be scored into an occupied net for the final 18 minutes and 24 seconds, you’re a winner.

Buffalo’s defense was superb in that span, and goalie Matt Vinc stopped everything. The offense may not have generated any goals, but it did prevent Saskatchewan from having any easy transition opportunities.

It’s easy to not want to make a mistake in this sort of setting. It raised the question of whether the Bandits weren’t aggressive enough offensively in that situation. Tavares said that he was happy about the way things worked out, but admitted he was rather nervous along the way.

Even so, the Bandits extended their playoff winning streak to 10 straight games and counting. That’s easily an NLL record, and it certainly gives the team a little confidence that it can figure out a way to win in difficult situation. In other words, been there, done that.

A three-peat for the Bandits is now a game away. It could come on Sunday night, when Saskatchewan hosts Buffalo (8 p.m., EDT). If the Rush wins that one, Buffalo has another chance to win it all on Saturday afternoon, May 24.

“The next one’s obviously the hardest,” Smith said. “We have to make sure we go up, from the opening draw. They’re not just going to give it to us, right? We understand that, but we’re hungry. We’ve been in this position before. We’ve seen both sides of it, where we’ve lost it, and we’ve won it.