The Buffalo Bandits picked up a signature 11-10 overtime win over the first-place Saskatchewan Rush at KeyBank Center on Friday.
They’ll look to win their second straight game when they take on the Toronto Rock on Saturday from TD Coliseum in Hamilton. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m.
Josh Byrne was held scoreless prior to his overtime winning goal, which improved the Bandits to 5-6 and back into the final playoff spot.
The Rock are 6-4 on the season and coming off an impressive 13-9 win over the Colorado Mammoth which ended their seven-game winning streak.
Challen Rogers and heralded rookie CJ Kirst each had a hat trick as Toronto trailed by a goal entering the fourth quarter before scoring six times in the final stanza to win by four.
The Bandits are facing a Rock team that’s been reinvigorated by its youth with rookies Kirst, Owen Hiltz and Sam English playing integral roles on their team. Tavares talked about the challenge that dynamic presents playing new faces for the first time.
“Especially defensively, you don’t know the players’ tendencies,” Tavares said. “You can watch them all you want, but until you start facing them, you don’t realize maybe how fast somebody is, or the type of shooter they are, different angles that they have. The way they really release the ball for your goaltenders, for example. It’s always a challenge when you meet new players. You learn their tendencies, you try to shut them down, and then those players try to modify their game. It’s kind of just one big cycle that goes around.”
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the Bandits’ meeting with the Rock.
How to watch
TV (Buffalo broadcast market): CW23
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: WWKB 1520AM
Scouting the Rock
The Rock have started to see the early blueprint of their youth movement come to fruition as Toronto had each of the top three picks in the 2025 NLL Draft.
They utilized their first pick on Kirst, who won the 2025 Tewaaraton Award, a national championship at Cornell and became the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer in that same season.
Kirst leads the Rock with 22 goals, which is the most by any rookie in the NLL this season. His running mate, Hiltz – who was taken third overall out of Syracuse University – has 19 goals which ranks second among rookies.
While the Rock’s second selection, Ty English, is finishing his collegiate career at North Carolina, his brother Sam English has 11 points in his rookie season.
Toronto’s trio of first-year talents is balanced by veteran forward Mark Matthews, who has a team-best 48 points with 37 assists.
“They’re not just new, but they’re very athletic, and have had early success in the league so they’re a great young team, and Toronto did a good job last year of creating that rebuild, picking up three phenomenal players,” Tavares said. “They got us on the back-to-back. … They’re on a bit of a roll. They beat Colorado, a team that had their way with us so we’re going to have our hands full in Toronto in their home barn in Hamilton.”
