End to end action. Plenty of hits. Lots of scoring. Tonight the Buffalo Bandits and the Philadelphia Wings played one of the more entertaining games of the season at HSBC Arena. By the time the dust had settled, the final score read Buffalo 21, Philadelphia 12, knocking the Wings out as the final undefeated team this season. The Bandits, meanwhile, improved their record to 6-4.

This one started pretty ugly for Buffalo, who fell behind 2-0 after just 29 seconds of action on the first two shots of the game. The Wings made it 4-0 a few minutes later, and Bandits Coach Darris Kilgour then pulled starting goaltender Mike Thompson in favor of Ken Montour. Thompson was coming back off a recent injury and allowed four goals on just 8 shots.

By mid 1st it was 6-1 Philly, but then the Bandits began their comeback. First Delby Powless, then Billy Dee Smith, who ended up with four goals, got his first on an impossible shot from behind the net. Describing the play, Smith said “They put that rule in last year. Before that one would have to wind around the crease, but now it’s permissible to attempt the stuff in and in this case it worked.” Buffalo got two more and the period ended with Buffalo down by one.

The Bandits onslaught continued in the 2nd quarter with Philadelphia getting into constant penalty trouble and Buffalo capitalizing on their power play chances. Johnny Tavares tied it at 7-7 on a power play goal, and Buffalo would get its first lead of the night at the 4:59 mark, with Powless scoring on a two man advantage.

Buffalo ripped four straight goals as the period wound down to take a 12-8 lead, including a nifty breakaway by Smith who pirouetted and scored on the backhand. The teams traded goals in the final minute, and Buffalo went to the locker room with a 13-9 lead, accompanied by the thunderous applause of the 13,720 Buffalo fans who were getting their money’s worth.

In the 3rd quarter the Bandits magic continued as Buffalo ripped off the first three goals of the frame and took a 16-9 lead midway, including a nifty shorthander by Mark Steenhuis who muscled his way to the net. Philadelphia answered with two power play goals of their own and the period ended 16-11 in favor of Buffalo.

Starting the 4th quarter, Buffalo successfully killed off a 5 minute major penalty assessed to Rich Kilgour, which included several acrobatic stops by Montour. Asked if it’s a different mindset coming off the bench, Montour said “When you come in like that you don’t have time to think about things too much. You go in and just try to help the team.”

Both goaltenders were spectacular at each end in the 4th, but the Bandits finally broke through at the 8:02 mark on a power play goal by Roger Vyse to make it 17-11 Buffalo. Buffalo ripped two more quick ones to give an eight goal cushion, and from there it was keepaway, cat and mouse with the Philly goaltender leaving for an extra attacker, and by the time the clock read zero Buffalo had itself a huge victory over the previously undefeated Wings.

Coach Darris Kilgour was asked what was going through his mind when the score went 5-0 against his team. Kilgour replied “What the heck is going on? What team is this and where are the guys that I coach?” Kilgour admitted that he had to make the goaltender change, and it helped spark the bench. “Nobody likes seeing the goalie pulled when he’s not playing that bad, three of the goals were wide open shots and no goalie in the league that can stop good shooters when they have the time to pick their spots.”

Kilgour also commented on a play early in the first, when Pat McCready bowled over Wings goaltender Rob Blasdell in the crease, leaving Blasdell flat on the turf for a few minutes and sparking a lengthy brawl, one of the many physical moments of the evening. “Yeah it’s funny to see that happen to a team different than ours. It’s been happening to us. Thankfully Blasdell wasn’t hurt. They stepped up and did what they had to do and Patty answered the bell. It’s part of lacrosse. It happens and was handled well by both teams.”

The Bandits will get to savor this one for a few days, before hosting the Minnesota Swarm next Saturday at 7:30PM at the arena.

Side notes –

-Best “Kiss Cam” of the night – one male fan kissed his beer!

-Philadelphia’s Geoff Snider has to be the best face off specialist evah. Snider won 18 of 19 of his first center ice faceoffs… call him Mr. Automatic.

-Gotta love the Buffalo signature “B-O-X” chant. Fans here have really turned into an art form… one group of fans used batons and a hula hoop to spell out the letters. Another group of shirtless teens had the word spray painted on their chests. Yet another bunch of guys were actually wearing well shaped black and oranges boxes on their heads with the letters painted on. Awesome stuff!

-Quote of the night: Winning goaltender Ken Montour during an onfield interview after the game, which was played for the crowd… “I don’t like Philadelphia!” Ken, Ken Ken… Didn’t you used to play for these guys?!

History was made tonight at HSBC Arena, as the greatest Bandit ever, John Tavares, reached his final statistical hurdle when he scored his fourth goal of the game and the 597th of his career. In doing so, he eclipses the record set by retired player Gary Gait, and takes his spot as the best player to ever have played the game.

The big moment came towards the end of third quarter, and after netting the historic marker, Tavares was mobbed by his teammates, and the game was stopped briefly as Tavares got an opportunity to salute the home crowd of 11,878.

The Bandits went on to win the game over the New York Titans, 17-13, to improve their record to 2-1 on the young season. Next weekend they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Wings at the Wachovia Center.

They were all there… the Bandettes cheerleaders, Annoying P.A. Guy, THE B-O-X guys leading the charge behind the penalty box, and a full house of 18,690 mostly Bandits fans, who needed a scoresheet to recognize all the new faces on this year’s roster. Tonight at HSBC Arena Buffalo opened the 2008 season against the defending National Lacrosse League Champion Rochester Knighthawks.

Returning fan favorites include Mark Steenhuis with his trademark orange shoes, Rich Kilgour, one of the last of the original players on the team, and the ageless John Tavares, who entered this game needing just five goals to become the all time leading goal scorer in indoor lacrosse, cementing his legacy as the best player in the game.

Gone is goaltender Steve “Chugger” Dietrich, who departed for Calgary, with last year’s backup netminder Mike Thompson taking over the starting role.

While the Bandits are a much younger and faster squad than last year’s team, they got much bad news on the injury front before the ball was even dropped for the first game. Returning forward Brett Bucktooth is out indefinitely with a hip injury, while highly touted new acquisition Sean Greenhalgh tore his ACL during practice in December, meaning he will be out for the entire season.

Darris Kilgour returns for his 6th year as Bandits head coach. Buffalo has made the playoffs in each his five seasons here, including two appearances in the NLL championship game, but have yet to win a title here. The Bandits last won a championship in 1996.

While Buffalo and Rochester played a close game from the onset, with the Bandits tying it 3-3 on a shorthanded goal by John Tavares at 5:52 of the second (he had two for the night), Rochester pulled away with six unanswered goals to take control of this game. By the time it was 9-3 Rochester, Coach Kilgour had seen enough and pulled Thompson in favor of backup Ken Montour.

With the score 9-4 Rochester, late in the 3rd quarter Buffalo’s Pat McCready and Rochester’s Sean Evans dropped the gloves and went at it, with McCready losing his jersey in Rob Ray fashion. Decision on this one to McCready. Forward Mark Steenhuis, who tallied three Bandits goals, said after the game that the fight lifted the bench. “Patty really provided us a spark at that point in the game. I don’t know what we were doing up until then.”

The 4th quarter was a back and forth affair with both teams trading goals, then the Bandits put together a three goal run late to bring it to within three, but it was too little too late and the final score ended up 12-9 Rochester.

Steenhuis said that the Buffalo/Rochester rivalry is a tense and huge one. “Once the game starts, we don’t like them and they don’t like us and it’s pretty much a war out there. But we’re all professionals and off the floor we know each other and we’re all friends too.”

Coach Darris Kilgour had his usual terse losing game face on. “We didn’t play. We didn’t finish and you see the result” said Kilgour. “I’m surprised the score was as close as it was.”

Kilgour said he’d decide tomorrow who his starting goaltender will be for the rematch at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester. The team then returns home next Saturday to take on the New York Titans at HSBC Arena.