(Buffalo, NY)… The Rochester Knighthawks fell 12-6 to the Buffalo Bandits at KeyBank Center on Saturday night. There was no doubt it was a playoff atmosphere, and the three-time defending champs certainly took that feeling to heart.
Despite the loss, the Knighthawks remain alive in the NLL Playoff hunt, following Philadelphia’s win over Las Vegas. Rochester can be eliminated with a San Diego win at Georgia.
Buffalo took a 4-1 lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back. Despite Rochester’s best efforts, Buffalo didn’t allow more than two goals in a row the entire night.
The Knighthawks were led by Ryan Lanchbury with a goal and four assists, and Connor Fields’ four-assist effort. Blaze Riorden scored twice from the inside against his former team. Ryan Smith scored his 200th career goal. Rylan Hartley played the full 60 minutes in net, making 42 saves on 53 shots.
Buffalo got off to a hot start with goals from its duo of Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne. First, it was Smith driving down low after slipping his defender, then Byrne found the top corner with a shot on the run from the top of the key. Zed Williams had a Rochester answer, bouncing a shot off the post and the back of Vinc to put the Knighthawks on the board.
The Bandits found the back of the net twice more in the first. It was a power-play chance for their third. Kyle Buchanan found the space inside for a shot and then scored again at even strength on a bleeder through Hartley’s leg pad.
Buffalo opened the second with a transition chance in the first minute from Steve Priolo. Rochester found its response with Fields and Lanchbury combining for a perfect catch-and-shoot that beat Vinc low. Riorden added another from the Knighthawks power play two minutes later. Buffalo took back two of their own, but Jake Piseno got the last laugh of the half, burying a transition chance from the top of the key off a feed from Chad Tutton. Rochester went into the halftime break trailing by three, 7-4.
The Bandits picked it back up in the third after Williams and Ian MacKay went to the box with coincidental roughing penalties. While four-on-four, Byrne put a shot in from the outside that beat Hartley, and Joe Resetarits followed it up after slipping his man in five-on-five.
Smith bagged an outside shot a minute after Resetarits. It was Williams creating the space and screening the goalie for the 200th of his career. Riorden added one more to start the fourth, but ultimately the Bandits’ “pack it in” defense did their job and kept Rochester out of the middle of the floor for the remainder of the night.
Rochester will now prepare for their final weekend of the season. A home-and-home stand against the Georgia Swarm. First matchup is set for Saturday, April 18, at 4 p.m.at Gas South Arena before both teams head to The Blue Cross Arena for a Sunday matinee at 3 p.m., which will be the Knighthawks’ Native American Heritage Game.