The Buffalo Bandits Are in Uncharted Territory
The Buffalo Bandits lost for the fifth time in their last six games after losing to the Vancouver Warriors 11 to 9. It wasn’t a bad game, but it wasn’t good enough as Vancouver looked like the better team and proved it with the victory. Christian Del Bianco and the Warriors defense came up big holding Buffalo to two 18+ minute goal droughts.
The offense continues to fall short for the Bandits. Last season, Buffalo was 8-1 in games when giving up 11 goals or less and 5-4 when allowing more than 11 goals. This season, Buffalo is 3-3 when allowing 11 goals or less and 1-3 when allowing more than 11. The offense simply has not been good enough. The only player for Buffalo to score in the second half of this game was Kyle Buchanan (3g, 0a), both came with under 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. The big names of Josh Byrne (2g, 3a) and Dhane Smith (1g, 3a) were good, but not good enough. Dhane led the team in shots on goal with 12 but was held to 1 goal. Del Bianco played incredible. However, that excuse isn’t going to work every game for this team. They were forced to stay to the outside far too often settling for long shots late in the shot clock. Outside of Buchanan none of the depth scoring had more than one goal. Ian MacKay (0g, 4a) was double shifting out the back door and the front. Since making the switch to playing more defense, his offensive numbers have been solid. However, he is a player who has historically performed well against Del Bianco and he finished the game with just two shots on goal. Ryan Benesch (1g, 0a) scored the Bandits first goal of the game and was not heard from again. Clay Scanlan was held scoreless across the board. Tehoka Nanticoke (1g, 0a) scored a highlight reel goal but missed two great scoring opportunities and took a bad penalty with under 3 minutes left in the game. The offense has proven with the current roster that it is not talented enough to score consistently. On paper, at the start of the season, I didn’t think we would be having this conversation, but here we are.
The defense and Matt Vinc weren’t elite in this game, but they were above average and did enough to win. It’s not easy keeping players like Keegan Ball (2g, 4a), Jesse King (3g, 2a) and Curtis Dickson (4g, 2a) off the board. Dickson has had the Bandits number in recent matchups. His incredible shot was out in full force. Outside of the big three, the depth scoring for Vancouver was held quiet with Adam Charalambides (1g, 2a), Marcus Klarich (0g, 0a) and Ryan Sheridan (0g, 1a) being held to just one goal. The penalty kill was especially impressive holding the number two power play unit to one goal on four opportunities including a 5-on-3. Zack Belter was back in the lineup and after being a healthy scratch, I watched him carefully to see how he performed. Overall, I thought he played a great game. He and de Snoo played off each other well. There was only one time I saw his man get past him, but it didn’t result in a goal. Paul Dawson continues to rack up the blocked shots as he leads the league by a wide margin. However, teams are finding ways to get him on an island and are beating him 1-on-1. He is still a big part of this team, and most importantly on the penalty kill, but he may need a few less shifts at even strength. Taylor Dooley played one of the best games of his career against a tough opponent. The more opportunities he gets, the more settled he has become.
There has been a lot of talk about Vinc’s numbers this season. If you look at them in black and white, they are down from last season. However, if you take a closer look, his numbers are quite similar to his previous year. Last season, the Bandits defense was allowing more shots per game, most of them being from the outside and easier to save. This season, the Bandits are limiting the number of shots they are allowing per game, but the quality of shots they are allowing has gone up. Vinc is seeing more high danger in tight chances from opponents compared to the outside shots he was seeing last year. Vinc is on pace to see 790 shots on goal this season and currently has a 75.9 save percentage. Last season, he saw 922 shots and finished the year with a 79.1 save percentage. If you keep the difference between saves and shots on goal for Vinc from last year but give him the pace of shots against from this year, he would have finished with a 75.5 save percentage last season. His goals against average last year was 10.71. So far this season it is up at 11.21. All these numbers say that Vinc has not had a massive drop off like people are claiming. The Bandits current predicament is not the cause of bad goaltending.
Even though the Bandits may have put one foot back in the grave with this loss, the season is not over. The last time the Bandits lost four times in six games was in 2024. At that time their record was 7-7, which was up from 5-6 just three games earlier. In 2024, they also went on to win the championship. I’m not saying that is going to happen, but they aren’t dead yet. They have a monster two game weekend coming up that they will need to split if they want to stay alive. If they win both games, you’re looking alright. If they lose both, the season is likely over. These will be the last two games the Bandits play before what could be a very interesting trade deadline in Buffalo. With the season on the line, will the former champions rise to the occasion, or is it time to close the curtains on the dynasty.
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.
Christian Del Bianco
Inside – 8
Mid-Range - 1
Outside – 0
Transition - 2
*1 goals were on the penalty kill
* empty net goals
Matt Vinc
Inside – 5
Mid-Range - 2
Outside – 4
Transition - 2
*0 of the goals were on the penalty kill
Goal 1 – A streaking King beats Dawson to get inside and beats Vinc with a heavy fake and shot (D)
Goal 2 – Grant scores in transition beating Byrne, the defender and Vinc
Goal 3 – Dickson with a great outside shot, it didn’t look like Vinc saw much of it
Goal 4 – King slips past the defense and is left unmarked wide open in front of the net (D)
Goal 5 – Vancouver causing havoc in the offensive zone, Weiss is slow to get to the hands of Charalambides who rips a shot past Vinc (D, V)
Goal 6 – PP Goal - A no call on one end leads to a quick transition goal on the power play by Dickson
Goal 7 – A great effort by Ball to fight through multiple defenders and slam it home
Goal 8 – Ball shoots around Dooley with a long bounce shot (V)
Goal 9 – Wicked shot by Dickson as de Snoo can’t get out to hands in time
Goal 10 – With the goalie pulled Vancouver uses a set play to get King a lane and he buries it through Vinc
Goal 11 – Dickson uses a fake shot to get Dawson to freeze and then shoots around him with a hard shot that just sneaks inside the post
2/11 on Vinc
3/11 on the defense
Challenges by the Bandits – None
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 – 1-2 on the PP
Warriors – 1-4 on the PP
S. Priolo – Holding – Easy call for the referees. Priolo had a firm hold on Dickson’s stick and ripped it out of his hand – good call
N. Weiss – Hooking – At first it was thought this would be called holding, which I did not agree with. However, they called hooking which I can see. Weiss got his stick up around Dickson’s neck and pulled him back – good call7
D. Smith – Roughing - I didn’t love this call, but I understand it. Dhane went to throw a pick and got his hands up high on Charbonneau. It looked like a height difference more than anything. Dhane did extend his arm at the end and Charbonneau sold it well – good call
T. Nanticoke – Illegal Body Checking – Nanticoke laid a heavy and unnecessary illegal pick during a critical part of the game. Simply a bad play – good call
4/4 – good calls
I thought the refs leaned a bit towards Vancouver in this one. There were calls against the Bandits where similar plays were not called against the Warriors. However, both teams scored one power play goal. I didn’t think they were a major factor in the game, which is what you’re hoping for.