The Rochester Knighthawks (1-4) fell behind early and were never able to fully recover in a 13-6 loss to the two-time defending NLL champion Buffalo Bandits (3-0) Saturday at KeyBank Center.
Connor Fields topped all Rochester players with five points (2+3) while Curtis Knight (2+1) also registered a multi-goal outing. Ryan Lanchbury (0+4) and Ryan Smith (1+2) both logged multi-assist performances for Rochester, which suffered its fourth straight defeat despite outshooting Buffalo 68-58. Thomas McConvey (1+1) and Kyle Waters (0+1) closed out the scoring.
Goaltender Riley Hutchcraft earned his fifth straight start in the crease, stopping 43 of the 55 shots he faced while Kevin Orleman finished with a pair of saves in three minutes of relief.
FIRST QUARTER
Buffalo fed off the emotions and energy from the pre-game banner-raising ceremonies as they controlled the game right from the onset following the opening face-off. As quickly as Dhane Smith got a feed from reigning NLL MVP Josh Byrne at the left side of the offensive zone, he snapped it past Hutchcraft for a one-goal lead 22 seconds into the contest, setting the tone early for the Bandits.
The two intrastate rivals exchanged a few possessions but both Hutchcraft and five-time NLL champion and eight-time NLL Goaltender of the Year Matt Vinc made timely saves.
Prior to the end of the of the first quarter, the Bandits, who outshot the Knighthawks 13-10 in the frame, doubled their lead as Byrne netted his first of the night from Smith and Clay Scanlan.
SECOND QUARTER
Carrying a 2-0 advantage into the second quarter, the Bandits went on a four-goal run in nearly 2:30 to jump out to a 6-0 lead as Byrne tallied a pair and Ian McCay, Kyle Buchanan and Tehoka Nanticoke each had one. Nanticoke would finish with a team-high three goals for Buffalo.
The Knighthawks responded by ending the home squad’s run by cutting the deficit in half with just over two minutes to play in the quarter.
Confirmed: @connorfields05 does his best work when the situation is toughest 😤@RocKnighthawks pic.twitter.com/v48xdVVqcH
— NLL (@NLL) December 29, 2024
Fields got Rochester on the board near the end of a shot clock before he added his second of the night by diving to the center of the offensive zone while shorthanded. Ryan Smith added the Knighthawks second goal of the night on the power-play at the 10:24 mark from McConvey and Lanchbury as he beat Vinc over the veteran netminder’s shoulder.
Scanlan gave Buffalo a 7-3 advantage at the break as he scored his first in the NLL with 1:46 left in the quarter.
CERTIFIED RYAN SMITH MOMENT ☑️ pic.twitter.com/9dKSEqFet7
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) December 29, 2024
THIRD QUARTER
Knight cut the deficit to three just 61 seconds into the third quarter as he finished off a backdoor fed from Waters and Fields, but Buffalo countered back with four unanswered goals to seize control with an 11-4 lead.
The Bandits had four different goal-scorers while Byrne and Dhane Smith combined for six assists. The duo finished the night with a combined 19 points, including 11 from Byrne.
FOURTH QUARTER
The two clubs each scored a pair of goals in the final quarter to cap the 13-6 final, which included tallies from McConvey and Knight for Rochester.
T-Money takes it all the way to the BANK! 💰 pic.twitter.com/j06duelRtp
— Rochester Knighthawks (@RocKnighthawks) December 29, 2024
UP NEXT
The Knighthawks conclude their two-game road-swing on Saturday, Jan. 4 when they face the undefeated Georgia Swarm for a 7:30 p.m. contest at gas South Arena. The game will be the only meeting of the season between the two teams and will be carried live on Big 107.3 FM as well as ESPN + and NLL+.
