The Buffalo Bandits Defeat the Las Vegas Desert Dogs

The Bandits took down the Dogs in what ended as a much closer game than it should have been. The Bandits held a 14-7 lead with just 11:25 left in the game. After Zach Belter was injured in a scrum with Chase Fraser, Las Vegas took advantage of an exhausted Bandits defense narrowing the score to 14-12. Dhane Smith put the game on ice with his second goal of the night and the Bandits 15th goal of the game. Las Vegas would add one more late goal before the defense and Vinc held on as Buffalo would go on to win 15-13. 

The offense was incredible in this game. The secondary scoring specifically came alive. Kyle Buchanan (4g, 1a) and Ian MacKay (3g, 4a) had their best games of the season. Buchanan mentioned in the post-game press conference that he came into the season a bit banged up. That, on top of the choppy start to the season were a couple of reasons he felt he started the season a bit slow. Now, he has 6 goals and 10 points in the last two games. MacKay, on the other hand, seemed like he had been fighting his shots a bit to start the year. It was only a matter of time before they started to fall. He was able to complete the rare natural hattrick and has 11 points in his last two games. Clay Scanlan (1g, 2a) was inches away from scoring a hattrick of his own. He has played his role quite well to start the season while adding a few goals while he is at it. You can see the confidence in himself growing with each game. Dhane Smith (2g, 6a) and Josh Byrne (3g, 6a) quietly added 8 points and 9 points respectively. One of my favorite plays of the game was watching Byrne fight two players for a loose ball, expertly pick it up, find Buchanan on the back door left all alone, who buried it for a goal. It’s those kinds of plays that show how Dhane and Josh lead by example. I was happy to see Tehoka Nanticoke (1g, 1a) have 7 shots on goal. He may have only scored one goal, but the more he can shoot and become a bigger threat on that right side, the more it will open the rest of the floor. The Bandits have now scored at least 13 goals in 3 of their 4 games. It’s hard to imagine but I don’t know if they are at their ceiling yet. 

The defense oddly disappointed me. Mitch de Snoo went down early in the first quarter and did not return to the game. That is a big part of the defense to lose. Vinc and the Bandits held the talented Las Vegas offense to just 7 goals until 10:09 left in the 4th quarter. That sounds great and there is a chance I am being a bit harsh on them. However, from what I saw from the press box, they were constantly losing players and their switch offs looked brutal. I thought they were a bit lucky to hold the Dogs off as long as they did. There were plenty of good shifts mixed in with the bad, but after seeing this team play so well against Calgary, they looked a bit lost against a talented Las Vegas offense. It didn’t fully fall apart until the Zach Belter injury. I will give them a pass from that point on. Once the Bandits lost two defenders, both on the left side, Las Vegas went on a 5-1 run to end the game. I didn’t love how they looked before that though with many of the goals being caused by poor switches. Next, they face an elite Rochester Knighthawks offense. The injuries will be crucial to their play in that game. This was also a game where Vinc made some important saves but also let in a few soft goals he may want back. The entire back end will need to play better if they want a chance against Rochester.  

Here at the Buffalo Sports Collective we don’t often mention face-offs. Our motto is “face-offs don’t matter until they do”. In what was supposed to be a tough matchup, Connor Farrell performed very well against Tyrell Hamer-Jackson. Farrell won 19 of 31 face-offs including a few clutch time killing face-offs late in the game. Those are the types of face-offs that we believe matter. Farrell won the face-off after the Bandits 15th goal with 1:29 left in the game, and the face-off after the Dog’s 13th goal with only 54 seconds left in the game. I am sick of writing face-off so this may be the only time I mention this all season, but Farrell has done a nice job to start the season. Even when he isn’t winning the face-off, he is not allowing the opposition to win it cleanly very often. He is also doing a great job finding the outlet pass or knowing where to hit the ball if he can’t win it cleanly himself. Farrell deserves his flowers after his great performance and start to the season.  

This was a strange victory for Buffalo. What started as a dominant performance, ended as a close nerve-wrecking win. In the end though, a win is a win. It will be interesting to see how serious the de Snoo and Belter injuries end up being. If they are both out of the next game, the Bandits will need to make some interesting lineup adjustments. It is not an ideal situation against a Knighthawks team coming off their first loss of the year. Rochester has not scored less than 13 goals in a game this season, not a time you want to be down two of your best defenders, both from the same side of the floor. The offense will need to continue their hot start to keep up.  

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.          

Landon Kells 

Inside – 7 

Mid-Range - 1 

Outside – 1 

Transition - 0 

*0 goals were on the penalty kill      

*0 empty net goals  

Alec Buque 

Inside – 3 

Mid-Range - 1 

Outside – 0 

Transition - 0 

*0 goals were on the penalty kill      

*1 empty net goals  

Matt Vinc           

Inside – 3 

Mid-Range – 6 

Outside – 4 

Transition - 3 

*1 of the goals was on the penalty kill        

Goal 1 – Cloutier left open in front of the net after a switch off, has enough time to pump fake multiple times while Witty attempt to block the shot instead of taking the man (D) 

Goal 2 – After the no goal call against Scanlan, Matisz is too slow to get on the field on the long bench change for the Bandits leaving Jones open in front of the net in transition  

Goal 3 – Dhane passes Jones to Dawson who is watching a different player, Jones goes to the middle of the floor wide open (D) 

Goal 4 – Jones does a nice pick and roll, receives the pass and takes a quick and accurate shot. Again, this was another poor pass off (D) 

Goal 5 – Bandits defense was slow to pick up Jackson who came on the field late, he had a clear path to the net for a quick shot in front (D) 

Goal 6 – Quick hard outside shot by Donville on a delayed penalty. I think it caught Vinc a bit off guard, but it was a great shot 

Goal 7 – Fraser ripped a wicked shot from the outside 

Goal 8 – Outside low floor burner from Cloutier, probably one that Vinc should have (V) 

Goal 9 – PP Goal – quick passing back and forth and Cloutier scores a nice low goal 

Goal 10 – Delayed penalty – Jones gets open after a pick, find his spot and hits it 

Goal 11 – Outside shot as the Bandits get caught running around after a loose ball, Jones shoots low as it squeaks past Vinc for the goal (V) 

Goal 12 – Witty can’t keep up with Cloutier who runs around and finds his spot (V)(D) 

Goal 13 – Jackson shoots low in transition and Vinc let’s another low goal go in  

3/14 on Vinc (V) 

5/14 on the defense (D) 

Challenges by the Bandits – 1/2 

• The Bandits challenged the no goal call against Clay Scanlan. It was tough to tell on the replays we were able to see. However, with the new replay system, I don’t see how you can have an inconclusive call. There was a clear angle of when his foot touched the crease, and a clear angle of the ball going in. It seems simple enough to take the time stamp of one, match it with the other and see what the call is.  

• The Bandits challenged what would have been Las Vegas’s 5th goal. It was a rough call on the field but quickly overturned to no goal. The player’s bottom half is in the crease before the ball goes in.  

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 – 0-0 on the PP         

Desert Dogs – 1-3 on the PP              

T. Witty – Holding – It was a quick hold but an obvious one as Poitras got past Witty and was crashing the net – good call 

C.Wyers  – Holding – This one I thought was even less of a hold than the last one, yet it was still called. They were watching the holds extremely tightly. Wyers did quickly and lightly pull the jersey after he was beat, he is going to be called for that – good call 

N. Weiss – Slashing – After getting slammed in the back by Fraser, Weiss turns around and takes a wild slash at him. The referee was already headed in that direction because of the commotion and saw Weiss with the slash, unfortunate but understandable – good call 

3/3 – good calls     

Compared to a lot of games these past few weekends I was happy to see the referees keep their whistles in their pockets. Both teams had a few delayed penalties waved off after a goal so only seeing three calls all game is a bit deceiving. However, I would rather see that than the 17 combined penalties called in the Calgary Roughnecks versus San Diego Seals game.