BANDITS TAKE GAME ONE, DROP GAME TWO OF NLL FINAL
The NLL Final is split, one game a piece, as the Buffalo Bandits took game one 12-10, before the Saskatchewan Rush responded with an 11-10 win at home last night.
On Friday night, the Bandits snuck away with a win in game one of the NLL Final, not leading by more than one goal until the final seconds of the game. Buffalo erased multiple two-goal deficits throughout the game to win it, 12-10. Halfway through the third quarter, the Rush took a 2-goal lead, with Austin Shanks netting his third-goal and team-high eighth point of the game, putting Saskatchewan up 10-8. In the snap of three minutes, the Bandits rattled off three goals to take the lead, as Dhane Smith took over the game with two of those tallies. A goaltender’s shootout of a fourth quarter saw Matt Vinc out-duel the NLL’s goalie of the year, Frank Scigliano. Vinc ended game one with 44 saves, twelve more than his netminder counterpart. There were no goals scored in the fourth quarter, until an empty net goal deflected off Kyle Buchanan’s stick and in for the insurance marker for Buffalo with just 12 seconds left.
In game two last night, the Rush once again took an early lead, with three straight to open the scoring in the first five minutes. With the hometown crowd rocking, the Bandits overcame an overturned goal, then proceeded to rip off three straight goals to turn a 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 lead before the final minute of the first half. In the dying seconds, off a mad scramble for a loose ball, Saskatchewan took advantage of a 3-on-1 break, and tied the game at 6 with less than a second left on the clock.
The first goal of the second half came just about five minutes into the third quarter, when Chase Fraser scored another nasty goal, going behind his back with one hand, bouncing the ball off the floor and past Scigliano, giving the Bandits a 7-6 lead. In response, the Rush tied the game with just over five minutes left in the third, with a diving one-touch finish for Brock Haley. Buffalo bounced back with Josh Byrne’s first of the night, but then Saskatchewan’s spark plug Clark Walter tied the game back up, knotted at 8 with just under a minute left in the third. Before the period came to an end, Buffalo’s Kyle Buchanan forced a turnover deep in the Rush’s end, set up Chase Fraser, who put his defender in a blender, and put Buffalo up 9-8, which would hold to the end of the third.
It took a full six minutes for the fourth quarter to see a goal, but after Scigliano made a terrific side-to-side save on Buchanan, the Rush went down the floor and tied the game with Zach Manns rocketing one in from the restraining line, equalizing the game at nine. Just a few possessions later, Austin Shanks created space for Saskatchewan, and gave the home team the lead with just over seven minutes to go, up 10-9. The Rush were playing out of their minds defensively, with positioning denying any Buffalo chance from distance. Just as Buffalo made a nifty defensive play of their own, the goal post bailed out the Rush goalie once again. The next break down the floor, Shanks scored another for Sask, giving the Rush an 11-9 lead with just three minutes left.
As the clock ticked away, and Buffalo pulled Vinc for an extra attacker, Buchanan scored his first of the game to make it a one goal game, with the Bandits trailing 11-10 with just over a minute left. After Connor Farrel won the draw, Buffalo set up with the empty net again. As MacKay set up Buchanan on the near side, Scigliano made a stunning shoulder save, keeping the lead in neon green. At the buzzer, a long distance shot was blocked by the Rush, and the clock hit zeros. 11-10 the final in game two, with Saskatchewan forcing a game three.
The winner takes all finale will be on Saturday, in Buffalo.
MAPLE LEAFS FORCE GAME SEVEN, FALL AT HOME, 6-1, IN SERIES FINALE
The Toronto Maple Leafs rallied in game six, with a 2-0 win, to force game seven. Last night, the Leafs’ lost 6-1, bombarded by the Panthers, getting beaten thoroughly on home ice in game seven.
In game six on Friday, the Maple Leafs were clinical defensively, sitting back and allowing Florida to play along the perimeter, but denying anything in the middle. In total, the Maple Leafs blocked 31 shots in game six, aiding Joseph Woll to his first career playoff shutout. As he described it after game five, the “noise” of the media outside and fans criticizing Auston Matthews was loud, with the Maple Leaf captain scoreless in the second round entering game six. After waiting all game for the Panthers to suffer a turnover, it came in their own zone, with Mitch Marner picking off an errant pass. Marner slid it up to Matthews who ripped a quick shot right between Bobrovsky’s legs for the first goal of the game, giving the Leafs a 1-0 lead with just fourteen minutes left. About eight minutes later, the grizzled vet Max Pacioretty doubled Toronto’s advantage, ensuring the game six win, sending the series back North for game seven.
Despite Florida pouring on shots in the first period of game seven, Woll and the Leafs remained tied with the Panthers, scoreless after one. It was the second period that saw the meltdown for Toronto. Three goals for Florida in the span of six and a half minutes, with Jones, Lundell, and Gadjovich sucking the life out of Scotiabank Arena one goal at a time, putting the defending champs up 3-0 halfway through the game.
In the third, Max Domi took advantage of an ill-advised wholesale change for Florida, ripping the Leafs’ first goal of the game right through Bobrovsky just two minutes into the third. That tally gave some juice back to the Maple Leaf faithful, but less than fifty seconds later, whatever juice was just injected into the crowd was quickly drained, as Ettu Luostarinen notched his third goal of the playoffs, and for the Panther third line, their second of the night, to give Florida the three goal lead right back. With just over ten minutes left, Sam Reinhart sniped a shot right off a faceoff win to extend Florida’s lead to 5-1. The Panthers were in control, looking like the team that won the Stanley Cup last season all over again. In storybook fashion, Brad Marchand scored the final goal of the game, an empty netter for Florida, as the dagger that may have just ended this iteration of the Maple Leafs as we know them. 6-1 Florida, final, and the Panthers will advance to the Eastern Conference Final to face the Carolina Hurricanes.
For the Maple Leafs, the questions that loom now are monumental. It’s been nine years of the Matthews era, without a single Conference Final appearance to speak of. With Mitch Marner expected to hit free agency, questions of who will stay and who will go are circling Toronto, louder now than ever before.
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