Billings has 4 goals, 11 assists as Toronto Rock defeat Buffalo Bandits 15-9
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Garrett Billings scored four goals and assisted on 11 and Nick Rose was outstanding in net as the Toronto Rock defeated the Buffalo Bandits 15-9 in a National Lacrosse League game Saturday night.
Stephan Leblanc had four goals and five assists, Colin Doyle had two goals and six assists, Dan Carey and Brenden Thenhaus added two goals each and Kasey Beirnes chipped in with one for the Rock (6-6), who strengthened their hold on second place in the East Division.
Special teams play had a lot to do with the result: Toronto was 7 for 12 and Buffalo 0 for 4 on power plays.
Toronto outshot Buffalo 60-44.
For the Bandits (4-8), who crept within 9-8 in the fourth quarter, John Tavares scored four goals and Mark Steenhuis, Scott Self, Mat Giles, Brandon Francis and Tom Montour got one each.
Penalty woes began early for the Bandits. Jeremy Thompson was penalized for five minutes for checking Doyle across the side of the neck in the fourth minute and Billings opened the scoring on the power play. Giles snuck in a short-handed goal before Carey and Leblanc added power-play goals for a 3-1 Toronto lead.
Tavares bounced one between Rose's legs and Doyle dove from behind the net to drop the ball behind goalie Mike Thompson, leaving it 4-2 for the Rock after one quarter. Toronto was up 16-7 in shots on goal.
The Bandits tied it 4-4 early in the second with goals 50 seconds apart by Tavares and Self.
Billings fired in a high sidearm shot from the middle of the Buffalo end and Thenhaus made it 6-4 when he broke free of Darryl Gibson to take a Billings pass, freeze Thompson with a fake and bury the ball on the short side of the net.
Francis barged to the front of the crease to get one back before Beirnes scooted to the front edge of the crease to take a Doyle pass and make it 7-5. It was the fourth Rock power-play goal of the half. Toronto, making the most of all the Buffalo penalties, was up 37-19 on the shots counter at halftime.
Leblanc and Steenhuis exchanged goals early in the third quarter before Toronto's Damon Edwards got a major penalty for high-sticking Giles. But the Rock didn't yield a goal, and Rose handled everything the Bandits could throw at him.
Thenhaus, released by the Bandits at the Dec. 22 roster cut-down and signed as a free agent by the Rock on Jan. 17, scored another key goal by again wriggling free for a pass and faking a shot before burying the ball high on Thompson to make it 9-6.
The three goals were all the teams managed in the third quarter. Shots were 46-30 for Toronto when the fourth started.
Tavares made it 9-7 with a long shot into a top corner of the Rock net at 1:02. Gibson earned a major penalty for high-sticking Dan Carey and Montour scored short-handed to make it 9-8 at 2:26.
The rest of the game belonged to the Rock as they pulled away on consecutive power-play goals by Billings, Doyle, Leblanc and Billings again in a 2:40 splurge that gave them a 14-8 cushion. That was it for Thompson. Anthony Cosmo took over and immediately relinquished goals to Carey and Leblanc.
NOTES: Attendance was 17,222 at First Niagara Center. . . . Both teams are back in action next Saturday night when Edmonton is at Toronto and Philadelphia is at Buffalo. . . . The 11 points piled up by Colorado's John Grant Jr. in a 16-12 win in Rochester on Saturday afternoon increased his career total to 1,075, knocking Josh Sanderson (1,067) out of fourth place on the all-time list. Sanderson missed his second straight game with what the Rock has described as an "upper body injury." . . . Toronto's other scratches were Glen Bryan and Scott Johnston. . . . Buffalo deleted Tracey Kelusky, Jay Thorimbert and Jimmy Purves. . . . Buffalo won the two previous meetings 14-10 back on Jan. 14 and 21-14 on March 16, and the Bandits had won nine of 11 regular-season meetings before this one.
