Buffalo Bandits play for NLL championship
The National Lacrosse League championship has returned to Banditland.
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BUFFALO, N.Y. — The National Lacrosse League championship is back in Banditland.
Josh Byrne, who missed the first two games of the best-of-3 NLL Finals, was a difference-maker Saturday night at KeyBank Center. He scored four goals as the Bandits beat the Colorado Mammoth 13-4 to win their first championship since 2008.
Byrne had 11 goals and 26 points during Buffalo's three playoff victories going into Saturday night's decisive game. He missed the first two games of the championship series with Colorado.
Byrne scored a goal to end the first quarter, giving the Bandits a 2-1 lead 15 minutes into the game.
Chase Fraser then stepped up for the Bandits in the second quarter. His two goals pushed the lead to three, before Buffalo eventually went to the locker room at halftime with a 4-2 lead.
When play resumed, Byrne quickly got back to work. He scored the first two goals of the third as the Bandits extended the lead to 6-2. Byrne later scored again, as did Dhane Smith, and Buffalo led 8-3 going into the fourth.
That's where Chris Cloutier, Matt Spanger, Brad McCulley, and Max Adler all added goals for the Bandits, who pushed the lead to 12-4 with a little more than 10 minutes to play. Cheers from the 18,296 fans at KeyBank Center grew louder with each goal, sensing that a championship could soon return to Buffalo.
Bandits goaltender Matt Vino made 46 saves.
Smith talked about what winning the NLL crown would mean to him in the days leading up to Game 3.
Source: WGRZ.com
