Bandits vs. Wings: Steenhuis puts on a show with four goals on banner-raising night
Bandits rise to occasion
Second-period blitz puts away Philly
The Buffalo Bandits had the thrill of putting up a banner to commemorate their 2008 championship Saturday night. Then they went about the business of starting on the next one.
All in all, they couldn’t have asked for a much better start.
The Bandits needed about a quarter to get their 2009 legs under them. Once they did that, there was little stopping them as they recorded a 15-11 win over the Philadelphia Wings before 18,690 in HSBC Arena.
“We had a lot of things to play for,” Bandits coach Darris Kilgour said. “We were missing our captain [Rich Kilgour, out with an elbow injury]. There were a lot of things that could have distracted us. . . . I thought they played one of the best games I’ve seen them play while standing behind the bench as coach of the Buffalo Bandits.”
Mark Steenhuis needed absolutely no time to look like he was in midseason form for Buffalo. He had four goals and four assists in a dominating performance. Steenhuis scored in just about every way imaginable — long range, close range, breakaways. When he wasn’t scoring, he was setting up teammates with on-target passes.
“He’s really the sparkplug that makes this engine go on offense,” Darris Kilgour said. “He draws a lot of attention. Tonight he did a great job of giving up the ball when he did get doubled.”
“They play a really pressure style of game,” Steenhuis said. “They are trying to go for steals, and shoot, shoot, shoot. We wanted to slow the ball down and use the 30-second clock as much as we could.”
At the other end of the field, Buffalo played good defense for most of the contest. Goalie Mike Thompson usually had good looks at the Wings’ shots, and he stopped 32 of them on the night.
“I could see the ball well most of the time,” he said. “Philly is a good team, so it’s good to get the win against them.”
The game almost could be broken into three segments. The celebration surrounding the raising of the championship banner essentially ended 10 seconds into the game, when Philadelphia’s Drew Westervelt scored the first of his three goals in his five-point night. That was something of a splash of cold water in the face for the Bandits, who could only manage a 3-3 tie after the first quarter.
“In the beginning I think we were a bit tight,” Buffalo’s John Tavares said. “We were a little jittery. We didn’t capitalize on our chances; it felt like we should have been up by one or two.”
The goals started coming a few minutes into the second period, though. Buffalo outscored the Wings, 3-1, in that 15-minute span, with Steenhuis getting a goal and an assist. It was more of the same in the third quarter, as Steenhuis’ breakaway goal early in the third period set the tone. Buffalo was up, 10-5, after 45 minutes, and it seemed like the game was over.
Not so fast. Trailing by 12-6 with 10 minutes to go, Philadelphia crawled back. Three straight goals cut the lead to 12-9 to make life at least uncomfortable for Buffalo.
“In the fourth quarter, we started dropping off the shooters and becoming screens instead of deterring shots. I think that cost us on a couple of outside shots in that quarter,” Kilgour said.”
“We panicked a little bit, but it wasn’t like we were really in danger of losing,” said Tavares, who had three goals and two assists.
Moments like that are why it’s so nice to have Tavares’ years of experience around. He scored a pair of momentum- killing goals that gave Buffalo a pair of four-goal leads.
“He never ceases to amaze me,” Steenhuis said about Tavares. “He’ll always get the loose ball and [is] always there for the big goal. That’s why he is the greatest player in the history of this game.”
The Bandits had been thinking about Opening Night for quite a while. The wait will be shorter for Game Two, which will be played in Toronto next week.
“We wanted to play a big game against our big rivals, and I think we did that,” Kilgour said. “Hopefully we can carry that into our next game in Toronto, where we haven’t had a lot of success in the last few years.”
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments