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BANDITS LOOKS TO BUILD MOMENTUM IN BOSTON

First meeting between clubs since 2009 Playoffs

03/13/2010

By Dan Ventresca, covering the Blazers for NLL.com

The Boston Blazers (5-4) will host the Buffalo Bandits (4-6) on Saturday night at the TD Garden in their first matchup this season. Game time is 7:30pm EST, with a live broadcast online on The NLL Network at NLL.com. The last time these two clubs met was during the 2009 Playoffs, when the Bandits defeated the Blazers 11-8 in the Divisional Semifinals.

Boston comes into the game winners of five of their last six, while Buffalo is 3-3 in that same stretch. The Bandits will play on back-to-back nights after they play the Toronto Rock on Friday. The only other time Buffalo played on consecutive nights this season, they lost both games to Washington and Edmonton.

"It can work either way," Blazers coach Tom Ryan said. "Sometimes it makes it tough to bounce back and play on Saturday, sometimes the team rallies and puts up their best performance on the second night. So, we're just trying to prepare for Buffalo and [we] expect their best performance."

Blazers captain Dan Dawson leads the team in scoring and is coming off of a game in which he notched the game-winning goal against the Washington Stealth. The reigning NLL MVP has racked up twelve points in his last two games.

"You got Dan Dawson quarterbacking the [Boston] offense," Buffalo Assistant Coach Duane Jacobs said. "It's going to be a tough game."

Boston will play its first game since an 11-9 win over the Stealth on Feb. 27.

"Last year we had trouble coming off of bye weeks," Ryan said. "I think guys got a little too distracted. My early impression is that guys took the [bye] week and relaxed a little bit, but are back focused this week.

"Early in the season we had some trouble showing up ready to play, and more recently we've put in better efforts."

Buffalo will look to ride the momentum of a 12-10 win over the Orlando Titans last weekend at home. The win marked Bandits Head Coach Darris Kilgour's 93rd career regular season victory, tying him for the most in league history.

Buffalo forward and leading scorer Mark Steenhuis burnt Orlando with six goals and four assists, earning him Player of the Week honors for Week Nine.

Goalie Ken Montour made 43 stops on 53 Orlando shots. Montour and back-up goalie Angus Goodleaf have each appeared in seven games this season, with Montour posting a 10.89 goals against average (GAA) and Goodleaf posting a 10.99 average.

Goodleaf was recently released by the Bandits to make room for forward Brandon Francis. Mike Thompson will assume the second goalie duties for Buffalo.

Boston goalie Anthony Cosmo boasts the league's best GAA (9.39) and his GAA is 8.84 in his last two games.

Buffalo rookie defenseman Chris Corbeil will likely miss the next two weeks with a knee injury, while fellow defensemen Steve Priolo and Kyle Schmelzle will play despite suffering minor injuries last weekend against Orlando.

"There's no doubt we're banged up," Jacobs said. "But I think we have enough depth to handle two games in a row."

Watch the game live on The NLL Network at NLL.com.

By Jonathan McGrath, covering the Bandits for NLL.com

After taking on the first-place Toronto Rock on Friday night, the Buffalo Bandits will travel to Boston to take on the Boston Blazers (5-4) Saturday night.

Buffalo is coming off of a much-needed win against the Orlando Titans at home. Buffalo forward Mark Steenhuis gave his best outing of the year in taking part in 10 of the Bandits' 12 goals, scoring a game-high six goals and four assists.

Buffalo's leading goal scorer is optimistic about the direction the team is going in.

"Things look like they're coming together. I'm just happy that I can contribute to this team," said Steenhuis.

In addition to Steenhuis' performance, John Tavares - who missed the first half of the season with an injury - seemed to be healthy as he finished the game with one goal and two assists while playing his most physical game of the year.

The Blazers are also coming off of a home victory as they beat the Washington Stealth 11-9 two weeks ago. Boston finished the game strong as they outscored the Stealth 4-2 in the final quarter to get the win. In addition, Boston held Washington's leading scorer, Jeff Zywicki, to one assist in the first half and no goals for the entire contest.

Both Bandits contests this weekend are set for a 7:30pm EST start.

Watch the game live on The NLL Network at NLL.com.