BANDITS DEFEAT WINGS, 16-11
April 1, 2000
The Buffalo Bandits picked a good time to beat the
Philadelphia Wings at home. John Tavares scored six times and
added two assists in leading Buffalo to a 16-11 win over their
rivals from the City of Brotherly Love tonight to put the Bandits
(7-3) into a first-place tie with the defending NLL champion
Toronto Rock. It was the fifth straight win at home for the
Bandits and the first time they beat the Wings in Buffalo since
January 7, 1995. The Bandits, who finish the season with games
next week at Philadelphia and the week after at Albany, won five
of six games at HSBC Arena this year after a 1-5 mark there last
season.
Tavares scored the goal that sent the Bandits on their way when
he beat Philly goalie Dallas Eliuk 1:44 into the third quarter
for Buffalo’s first lead of the game, 8-7. They would
outscore the visitors 9-4 in the second half. The Wings had led
by as many as four (6-2) just over two and a half minutes into
the second quarter.
Philadelphia was also snakebit in goal. Eliuk, playing his first
game after serving a two-game suspension, left the game with an
injury 27 seconds into the second quarter. The Bandits beat his
replacement, Andy Piazza, five times on 15 shots. Eliuk did
return for the second half, but couldn’t stop the
league’s highest scoring offense.
In addition to the eight points from Tavares, eleven other
players had at least one point for Buffalo, including Derek
Malawsky’s two goals and three assists.
The Wings (5-4), who got six points (2+4) from Jake Bergey, have
a 7 a.m. flight out of Buffalo tomorrow for a 2:00 game in Albany
against the first-year Attack (6-3), who are unbeaten at home
(4-0) and have won five straight overall. The game is a make-up
of the originally scheduled February 18 game which was postponed
due to weather.