BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Buffalo Bandits are now in a must-win situation.
On Saturday, the Bandits fell to the Calgary Roughnecks 10-7 in game one of the National Lacrosse League Championship series. The game was played at KeyBank Center.
Rich Duch got the scoring going, giving the Roughnecks a 1-0 lead in the first quarter. Two unanswered goals by Corey Small (his first of two goals) and Dhane Smith gave the Bandits their first lead of the game in the second but another Duch goal before the half was up made it a 2-2 game at the break.
Just like the first two quarters, the third was once again a very quiet one. The Bandits re-took the lead after Shawn Evans scored his first of the game. That lead was short lived though, as the Roughnecks scored three unanswered goals over the rest of the quarter to take a 5-3 lead heading into the final fifteen minutes. As the fourth quarter began the Bandits needed a spark but it was the Roughnecks who scored again, putting the Bandits in a 6-3 hole. They were never able to overcome that deficit, despite creating a scoring run of their own late in the fourth.
Bandits goalie Matt Vinc made 32 saves in the loss while Roughnecks goalie Christian Del Bianco stopped 48 shots.
With the loss, the Bandits trail 1-0 in the best-of-three championship series. Game two is set for Saturday, May 25th at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. The Bandits need to win that game if they want to force a game three back in Buffalo.
