The Links: Game 3 is now necessary in NLL Finals
Colorado Mammoth (Photo: Jack Dempsey)
We spent Sunday morning collecting all the media mentions of last night’s Game 2 of the NLL Finals between the Buffalo Bandits and Colorado Mammoth, where a phenomenal fourth-quarter comeback by Colorado has forced a Cup-deciding Game 3 next Saturday in Banditland.
NLL Finals
Best-of-three series tied 1-1
Game 1: Colorado 14 at Buffalo 15
Game 2: Buffalo 8 at Colorado 11
Game 3: Saturday, June 18, 2022, KeyBank Centre, 7:30pm ET
Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado (Photo: Jack Dempsey)
First off, Denver’s Ball Arena certainly looked like it was at capacity (minus the upper deck). The team tweeted out before the game that the only tickets left were for their standing-room section.
Bandits supporters were well represented in Denver, with a number of noticeable sections painted in orange throughout the arena.
The buzz hours before the game was obviously that Colorado would be without post-season-pretty-much-everything-leader Eli McLaughlin, who the Mammoth moved to their IR earlier in the day. With Ryan Lee already sidelined for a lengthy stretch, this was the second time during the playoffs that most (and our social polls back that up) that counted Colorado out completely.
Zed Williams continued is powerful-post-season pace with yet anther huge point haul, finishing the night with 4 goals and 3 assists. With Lee and now McLaughlin MIA, just how much has Williams stepped up his overall production during the playoffs? Well, a helluva lot.
Zed Williams: Reg. Season vs. Playoffs
Williams is shooting way more, scoring more, assisting more, scooping more loosies and turning the ball over considerably fewer times. His post-season rise as been truly remarkable.
“Everyone stepped up. Everybody sacrificed to get goals.” - Williams (9News.com)
For the first three period, the Mammoth got goals from just Williams and Connor Robinson (3G, 1A) while they attempted a comeback that would need more goal-scoring gas for sure.
In the final 15 minutes, the Mammoth got gargantuan goals from rookie Brett McIntyre (2G, 4A), Tyson Gibson (1G, 3A) and Dylan Kinnear (1G, 3A). Plus, they were all pretty sick.
In our in-depth Game 2 preview, we mentioned that for the Mammoth to win, they’d need Matt Vinc to slip a bit between the pipes. Well, he didn’t.
What did happen, however, was the Mammoth got a masterful game from goalie Dillon Ward, a likely finalist for the Goalie of the Year with Vinc. Ward, named Game 2’s first star, finished with 40 saves, allowed just 2 goals in the second half hour, and let in just 8 goals all game. “Dillon was awesome,” Colorado Head Coach Pat Coyle said in post-game comments, also stating he feels Ward is the best backstop in the league. Those 8 goals were the fewest Buffalo have scored in a single game during this year’s playoffs, and the only game they netted fewer was their end-of-season loss to the Toronto Rock, 10-7.
Connor Robinson & Dillon Ward (Photo: Jack Dempsey)
One of the most fascinating in-game battles in this series has been the fight for opportunities on the offensive press, as well as the counter transition moves both teams continue to make. Buffalo captain Steve Priolo’s sneaky set up and power pick (Bit of an off-ball hold? Don’t show Travis Cornwall) on this Ian MacKay finish in the second quarter was pretty special.
As mentioned in our series preview a few weeks ago, playing in Game 2 tied Vinc with John Tavares in all-time games played during the playoffs (38). He'll set a new record next week in Banditland.
The Buffalo News upped their word count a bit in last night’s Game 2 review.
We had previously mentioned that Colorado defender Scott Carnegie was one of the few on either side to have an NLL-Cup-winner bullet on their resume.
And so does Coyle, who won four Cups playing for the Rock, plus a fifth with the Mammoth, the one and only time the Cup has been awarded to Colorado. All of Coyle’s victories were in NLL Finals when the league had just one and dones for every post-season matchup. It’ll essentially come down to just that this Saturday in Buffalo too.