Buffalo Bandits Drop Ugly Game

The Buffalo Bandits lost to the Colorado Mammoth 20-9 in one of the worst games they have played in quite some time. The offense has been struggling lately and that didn’t change. What changed was the defense. They looked outmatched in every moment as Matt Vinc was pulled before halftime and never returned. After allowing only 10 goals against the Ottawa Black Bears, nothing was working for the Bandits as they found themselves down 8-4 at half and allowed a season high 58 shots on goal.  

Sadly, there isn’t much to say about the offense that is different from the rest of the season. This is the healthiest and best lineup they have had to date, and it didn’t matter. Colorado has been a stifling defense having the second-best goals against average in the league, allowing only 8.82 goals per game. However, as great as they have been, the Bandits didn’t do much to challenge them. They continue to struggle to get inside, are dropping passes, and can’t find much outside shooting either. There were brief moments throughout the game that the Bandits' offense showed a bit of life, but it was few and far between. The lone bright spot was Tehoka Nanticoke (2g, 3a). The stats don’t explode off the page, but he looked confident and made some great plays during the game. The offense needs to be fixed and in a hurry. I think they need to make a move to add a piece to this team. The offense they have, outside of the man up opportunities, isn’t working.  

The defense was a big surprise in this game. What has been a relatively steady part of the team, despite the injuries and rotating cast, collapsed in a major way. The loose ball battle was close, the blocked shots and caused turnovers while not great, weren’t terrible, so what went wrong? Sometimes when a team is hot, they are hot. Every shot, every rebound, every aspect of Colorado’s game seemed to be humming. I was worried about the Bandits coming off the bye week and having to travel to the West. It is not an excuse, but it looked like Colorado simply had more energy than the Bandits did. The number of secondary offensive chances alone seems to prove that. The defense was consistently one step behind the young fast offense of Colorado. Matt Vinc wasn’t outstanding, but the defense constantly hung him out to dry. There were a few goals I am sure he wants back. However, in the first half, he seemed to be the only one making any effort to win the game. In his first NLL action, Evan Constantopoulos looked just like the rest of the Bandits, lost. He is a young goalie coming into an unfortunate situation. I will give him the benefit of the doubt, but it was not a good debut.  

The only thing that seems to be working for the Bandits offense is their man-up opportunities. They continue to have brilliant set plays that are executed flawlessly. In this game they were 4-of-5 on the powerplay and added a goal with an extra man on the floor during a delayed penalty. That means 5 of their 9 goals came with a man up. On one hand, you love to see that kind of efficiency, on the other hand, they need to find more consistent ways to score during even strength play. The penalty kill, like the rest of the defense, struggled allowing 3 goals on 5 opportunities for Colorado. Buffalo came into the game with the 4th best penalty kill unit, but it didn’t show up in this one. 

This breakdown is short and sweet for a reason. There isn’t a lot to take away from a blowout loss. If there was ever a time for Buffalo to face off against the Philadelphia Wings at home, this is it. Learn from the mistakes of this game and move on. The Bandits are now fighting for a playoff spot after dropping their 3rd straight game. The last time the Bandits did that was in 2024. They finished that season 11-7 and would go on a 5-0 run in the playoffs to win the championship. It’s not all doom and gloom, but they need to show signs of life and go on a run to establish themselves back at the top in one of the most competitive NLL seasons we have seen in quite some time.  

Goaltender Breakdown         

In this segment, I will breakdown how the goalies, offense and defense all performed on the goals in the game. How many were impressive goals, breakdowns in the defense or on the goalie.          

Dillon Ward 

Inside – 3 

Mid-Range - 2 

Outside – 2 

Transition - 0 

*3 goals were on the penalty kill      

*0 empty net goals  

Nathan Whittom 

Inside – 1 

Mid-Range - 1 

Outside – 0 

Transition - 0 

*1 goals were on the penalty kill      

*0 empty net goals  

Matt Vinc           

Inside – 5 

Mid-Range - 3 

Outside – 3 

Transition - 0 

*1 of the goals were on the penalty kill        

Evan Constantopoulos 

Inside – 2 

Mid-Range – 3 

Outside – 4 

Transition - 0 

*2 of the goals were on the penalty kill  

Goal 1 – Good pick set by Colorado allowing Kew a free shot as Weiss gets lost in his coverage and screens Vinc (D) 

Goal 2 – Priolo is covering Kew, switches off to no one and Kew buries a wicked shot (D) 

Goal 3 – Hannah beats Wyers 1 on 1 and he scores in tight 

Goal 4 – With the man advantage at the end of the quarter Colorado uses some great passing across the floor a few times to sneak one past Vinc  

Goal 5 – Hannah burns Whitty one on one and beats Vinc inside  

Goal 6 – PP Goal in Transition – Byrne misses a hard shot that launches to half. Colorado finds Kew who gets behind the defense all alone and beats Vinc inside 

Goal 7 – Outside shot right after Buffalo gets a goal, one that Vinc needs to have (V) 

Goal 8 – Bad switch off by the Buffalo defense allowing McIntosh a free look who buries it (D) 

Goal 9 – Benesch was caught on defense and Colorado attacked that weakness as McIntosh buries a skip shot past Evan C. 

Goal 10 – Great passing by Colorado finds Kew open in tight with a quick shot 

Goal 11 – Vinc makes another big save, Colorado grabs the rebound and as the Bandits defense stands there doing nothing, they get a pass to McIntosh right down the middle wide open (D) 

Goal 12 – Saris takes an outside shot, and everything is going in for Colorado 

Goal 13 – A pass that misses and floats past Evan C (C) 

Goal 14 – Knock beats Dhane Smith 1 on 1 and burns Evan inside 

Goal 15 – Transition – Edwards scoops up a loose ball, beats everyone to the net and beats Evan C 1 on 1 inside 

Goal 16 – PP Goal – Nice shot in the man advantage beats the goalie  

Goal 17 – PP goal – Simple passing a bounce shot between the legs of Evan 

Goal 18 – Outside shot by Kew goes off Evan and in (C) 

Goal 19 – A quick little off-handed shot by McIntosh goes off Evan again and in (C) 

Goal 20 – Outside shot gets through Evan 5-hole (C) 

1/11 on Vinc      

4/9 on Constantopoulos 

4/20 on the defense    

Challenges by the Bandits – 0/1  

The Bandits challenged a no-goal call against Dhane Smith. After the review, it looked like the ball clearly went in, but Dhane’s toe may have touched in the crease before the ball crossed the line. It was very difficult to tell if his foot touched in the crease at all with the angles they had, but it was also too difficult to overturn.  

Referee Corner          

Like many of the fans out there, I find myself often questioning what the refs are doing on the field. From no goals and players being ejected, to calls that simply do not make sense. In this segment, I will attempt to use the rulebook and my best judgement to understand some hot topics from the previous game.              

Bandits – 4-5 on the PP         

Mammoth – 3-5 on the PP              

I. MacKay – Roughing – Ian was getting frustrated with the play and looked like he was trying to spark something against Nock, unfortunately it didn’t work out – good call 

D. Robinson – Checking From Behind – From what you can see on video it looked like Robinson pushed Nock from behind and he went into the boards, tough to tell, but we’ll give it to the referees – good call  

S. Priolo – Roughing - This was a bad call. Priolo was pushing the player defending him, but he was receiving more than he was giving. There was no reason to call a penalty on either player – bad call 

M. McCannell – Roughing – No idea. This was apparently called while Dylan Robinson and Vela got into a fight, but I don’t see any roughing by McCannell – bad call 

C. Farrell – Tripping – This was a weird call. The ball was under the Colorado player’s feet. Farrell went for the ball, and the player fell over because of it. Farrell did sweep his leg out, but it was not in a tripping motion. I could see how the referee may have seen that as a trip, but I don’t agree – bad call 

2/5 – good calls     

The referees were fine in this game. I didn’t agree with a lot of their calls, and I did think they were favoring Colorado a bit. However, both teams had 5 opportunities on the power play, and Buffalo won that battle.