Knighthawks ruin Bandits' home opener
Buffalo falls to 0-2
Published: January 17, 2010, 12:36 am
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The Buffalo Bandits have run out of places to play the Rochester Knighthawks already this season.
Last week, the Bandits dropped a 10-5 decision to the Knighthawks in Rochester in the season opener. The score changed in the home opener in HSBC Arena on Saturday but the outcome was the same, as Buffalo lost by 13-11 before 17,207.
Bandits coach Darris Kilgour was a little happier about his team's play this time as compared to last week, but he was still disappointed about what the Bandits did when the game was on line.
"We gave up some stupid opportunities in the fourth quarter," he said. "We gave up two fast-break chances, and we didn't capitalize on our chances. We're dropping the ball on the crease, and we couldn't get a goal when it counted."
What's more, the Bandits were still without John Tavares, who now has missed two straight games with a lower-body injury. He had hopes of playing right up until game time, but decided he wasn't quite ready to go.
Make no mistake about it — the National Lacrosse League's all-time leading scorer is definitely missed by his team.
"He's our quarterback. He makes everyone around him better, and right now that's what we're missing," Kilgour said. "Nobody is working for anybody else. They're trying to do the right thing, but it's more about "I'm going to score this goal' instead of "We're going to score this goal.' We need to see a lot more we than I."
"Right now I'm jealous of anyone that can run," Tavares said.
Penalties played a major role in the contest. The Bandits came out with plenty of energy at the start. They scored the first three goals of the game to grab the early lead. On the third goal, scorer Mark Steenhuis (who had a team-high four goals on the night) got hit by Kyle Laverty. That led to a major scrum in one of the corners. Eight men went to the penalty box, four on each side, and the break seemed to settle the Knighthawks down a bit.
"It's a joke," Kilgour said. "If I said what I felt, I'd be fined. ... I don't know how we wind up even on that."
In the next 15 minutes of play, Rochester's offense got rolling. Or more to the point, John Grant got rolling. He had two goals and three assists in that span as the Knighthawks tightened up the game. Grant, who had eight points last week, finished with eight more (three goals, five assists) this time.
"Truth be told, he's getting more comfortable all the time after his knee surgery," Rochester goalie Pat O'Toole said.
Rochester climbed into the lead for the first time in the third quarter, as Craig Point (four goals) and Grant had back-to-back power-play goals. Buffalo's tendency to take bad penalties proved very costly.
"When we get penalties, it just makes their offense easier," said Bandits forward Brett Bucktooth, who had two goals. "We have to get better on that and sharpen up."
Steenhuis scored two goals in the fourth quarter and Bucktooth got another, but the Bandits could never get the tying goal. Steve Toll wrapped matters up for Rochester in the final minute with an empty-netter.
When the game was over, the Bandits found themselves two games behind both Rochester and Toronto in the East — not the start anyone connected with Buffalo expected or desired.
From the Knighthawks' standpoint, O'Toole was thrilled to see his team get an early jump on its Thurway rivals.
"It's huge. Number one, they are in our division, but it's Buffalo and Rochester," he said. "We usually play each other really well, especially at home. To get the win last week, and then to come in here and steal one, it's a great start to the season."
At least it's a long season, which continues next weekend with games in the state of Washington against the Stealth on Friday and Edmonton on Saturday. Still the Bandits realize they have to stop the bleeding relatively soon.
"The nice thing about this league is that we play every week," said Frank Resetarits, a Hamburg native who scored his first goal as a Bandit. "We can get right back to .500 if we win both games."
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