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Saturday night Buffalo rallied from a three-goal fourth quarter defecit to beat the Minnesota Swarm 13-12 in front of 15,238 fans at the First Niagara Center.
The Bandits trailed 10-7 early in the final quarter when they ripped off four-straight goals, capped off by Chad Culp's second of the night, to take an 11-10 lead. Minnesota responded with back-to-back goals from Ryan Benesch to pull back into the lead 12-11.
The Swarm's final lead was short lived, however, as Culp completed the hat trick on a feed from Shawn Williams to tie the game once again. Dhane Smith scored the eventual game winner just 23 seconds later, to get his first career hat trick, when he blasted a one-hopper past Swarm goalie Evan Kirk.
The Bandits opened their season Friday night with a 13-8 loss to Philadelphia. The Bandits fell behind early thanks to an undisciplined first half that included eight trips to the penalty box. The Wings power play made Buffalo pay with four goals on the man advantage.The Swarm's final lead was short lived, however, as Culp completed the hat trick on a feed from Shawn Williams to tie the game once again. Dhane Smith scored the eventual game winner just 23 seconds later, to get his first career hat trick, when he blasted a one-hopper past Swarm goalie Evan Kirk.
The two biggest stories to come out of the weekend were the play of Dhane Smith and goalie Kurtis Wagar. Smith, the Bandits' first round pick, finished the weekend with four goals and two assists and showed a lot of upside with his speed and moves on the floor. He also showed his versitility by playing at both ends of the field.
Wagar, a journeyman backup that has not logged many minutes of actual playing time, came on in relief of starting goalie Anthony Cosmo in both games and kept the Bandits from being blown out in both. He stopped 49 of the 62 shots he faced this weekend and showed he can be relied on when called into action.
Next Saturday Buffalo heads east down the New York State Thruway for a meeting with the defending champion Rochester Knighthawks.
Listen to the post game sound from Saturday:
Darris Kilgour
Chad Culp
Dhane Smith
Kurtis Wagar