Bandits, Mammoth Set for Winner-Take-All Game 3

For the second straight year, the Colorado Mammoth and Buffalo Bandits will play a winner-take-all Game 3 in Buffalo for a National Lacrosse League title. With these teams, could we really expect anything less?

Colorado staved off elimination Monday, stymieing the Bandits attack in a 16-10 win inside a loud Ball Arena in Denver occupied by more than 11,000 fans. Eli McLaughlin and Ryan Lee each notched seven points, as the Mammoth continued mirroring last year’s script. Now the group hopes history repeats itself on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EST.

The Mammoth muscled their way into control with 10 goals in the middle frames, helping extend their lead to as large as seven goals early in the fourth quarter. Buffalo failed to cut the deficit under three the entire second half, as Colorado cruised to tie the series.

“We’re not done,” Mammoth coach Pat Coyle said. “We’ve got work to do.”

While Game 2 was nearly all Colorado, Game 1 on Saturday was reminiscent of Buffalo’s down-to-the wire semifinal contests with Toronto last year. After entering the second half down a goal, Buffalo rode a 5-1 run in the third quarter to take command. Tehoka Nanticoke notched three goals in the spurt, including the final tally of the frame to put his squad up 12-9.

Colorado did not back down, even after Chase Fraser responded to an initial Zed Williams tally to extend the lead back to three. Chris Wardle beat Matt Vinc less than 20 seconds later, and McLaughlin cut the deficit to one on the team’s fourth power-play goal of the evening with 5:18 remaining.

That set the stage for one final heart-pounding moment for the Bandits faithful. After Buffalo failed to run out the final seconds, Colorado connected on a desperation full-floor pass to Williams. He leaped from behind the cage but faced a trio of negative factors. Williams stepped in the crease, got his shot off just late and Vinc stood tall.

“I knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Buffalo’s Dhane Smith said after Game 1. “We went on our run. They went on theirs. It comes down to the little things.”

Buffalo looked poised to keep the good vibes rolling at the start of Game 2, taking an early 3-1 lead fueled by power-play tallies by Kyle Buchanan and Smith. The offense, playing without injured Josh Byrne for a second consecutive game, only strung together back-to-back goals one time over the rest of the contest. Colorado tied the score by the end of the first quarter as part of a 6-1 run and never trailed again.

The Mammoth defense did well to keep Buffalo’s shots to the outside, with Ward only needing to make 38 saves. Frustration clearly set in for the Bandits as the second half progressed, resulting in 30 penalty minutes in the final 20 minutes of play.

“The defense, they played big,” Ward said. “They were suffocating. Buffalo got a lot of looks inside on Saturday night. We did a really good job of taking away their space, forcing them to take outside shots. I was able to see the ball very well tonight.”

Adding to the offensive showing for the Mammoth were Williams and Connor Robinson, who recorded six and five points, respectively. Smith had eight points for Buffalo, while Nanticoke scored four times.

This marks the first real adversity the Bandits have dealt with this postseason, having crushed Rochester 20-8 in the quarterfinals before rolling to a sweep of Toronto in the semis. The franchise’s entire season has been focused on doing the little things to finally get over the hump and to secure that elusive championship in their third straight trip to the Finals. They have 60 more minutes to prove they have what it takes.

Meanwhile, Colorado is looking for another storybook ending after a rocky 9-9 regular season.