Buffalo Bandits advance to 4th straight NLL Finals after sweeping Toronto Rock in semifinals

BUFFALO, NY. (WKBW) — For the fourth straight season, the Buffalo Bandits are heading back to the NLL Finals following their come-from-behind victory over the Toronto Rock in Game 2 of the NLL semifinals inside the KeyBank Center Sunday night.

Dhane Smith told reporters afterward that beating a team once is hard enough to do in this league but to do it four times against the number one team— that’s a whole different level of difficulty.

“I don’t get nervous all too much. First game of the year I get kind of nervous and then it kind of shifts a little bit. But every time we play Toronto I get nervous because I want to beat them so bad," Smith said. "But nerves are a good thing sometimes and we were able to control our emotions down the stretch and there’s no better feeling than beating a rival like Toronto.”

The path to victory looked bleak at moments, Buffalo trailed 6-3 at halftime after Toronto went on a 4-0 run to close out the first half.

Then after both teams exchanged a goal in the third, the Rock pushed their lead to 8-4 early in the final quarter.

But then like a flip of a switch the momentum swung back in Buffalo’s favor thanks to Chase Fraser, Tehoka Nanticoke and Josh Byrne leading the charge on a 6-0 run in the fourth.

Aided by Matt Vinc’s "you ain’t going to score on me mentality," in between the pipes. Buffalo sealed the come-from-behind effort in a 10-8 win marking their fourth straight trip to the NLL Finals.

"We found a way to win with our defense in the first three quarters and then we found a way to win with our offense in the last quarter. It’s hard to win all the time. And when you don’t win there’s always a problem. We’re fortunate to make the Finals four times in a row, but we’re not satisfied with that," says Bandits head coach John Tavares. "We’re still hungry and want to win a championship. That’s our goal from the beginning of the year and we’re one step closer to that.”

Up next is a three-game series for the NLL title against the Albany Firewolves starting Friday, May 17th in Albany. Game 2 will be in Buffalo on May 18 and if necessary, Game 3 will be in Albany on May 24.