The Buffalo Bandits are set to face the Saskatchewan Rush on Friday at KeyBank Center in their first meeting since last year’s NLL championship series, which saw the Bandits claim a third consecutive league title. The game will start at 7:30 p.m. and is part of the team’s “Friday Night Lights” series with a rock music theme.
Buffalo comes into the matchup with a 4-6 record after falling to the Vancouver Warriors 11-9 on February 20. In that game, Josh Byrne led the Bandits with five points, but despite rallying from an early deficit, they were unable to sustain momentum through a long scoring drought in the second half.
Head coach John Tavares commented on his team’s resilience in their recent loss: “I got to give the guys credit, they didn’t give up,” Tavares said. “It’s 5-1, we’re in Vancouver. It wasn’t like, ‘OK, here we go again, Colorado times two here.’ The guys came back, fought through, kept playing well. When you’re working hard and not giving up, good things are gonna eventually start happening. … We did have an error to let them score at the end of the half. Those are the little things that right now, it’s costing us. I was very happy with the way we played, the way we didn’t give up in that first half and we didn’t give up in the second half. We’re looking outside into a playoff spot, that’s definitely a top-three team in the league and we’re playing with them, we’re right there. We just got to find that difference of turning those losses to wins.”
The upcoming contest presents another challenge as Saskatchewan leads the NLL standings with a 10-1 record and has won nine straight games since mid-December 2025. The Rush also top the league for both total goals (137) and power-play goals (30), underscoring Buffalo’s need for disciplined play—a factor cited by coaches following previous defeats.
Friday’s game begins a back-to-back stretch for Buffalo; after facing Saskatchewan at home they will travel to play Toronto Rock on Saturday evening at TD Coliseum in Hamilton.
Tavares discussed how consecutive games could benefit his roster: “I definitely think it helps being together for long periods of time,” he said. “Sometimes when you play back-to-back, you’re a little bit more on point. When you think about the beginning of the year, we had a lot of weekends off, and we’re complaining about having such a big break in between, it’s hard to keep your skillset. Whereas now you know you’re going back to back so it’s polar opposite. I think advantage is your stick should be on—you should have much chemistry as possible.”
Fans can watch Friday’s game locally on CW23 or stream it via ESPN+. Radio coverage will be available on WWKB 1520AM.
With eight games left this season—seven against teams ahead of them—the Bandits are currently ranked tenth but trail Rochester Knighthawks and Las Vegas Desert Dogs by only half a game for eighth place and final playoff qualification.
Five out of six losses this season have been decided by three goals or fewer for Buffalo—a trend Tavares addressed while previewing Friday’s matchup: “It’s not like we can afford to take it easy on anybody because of where they are,” he said.“Mentally you’re thinking ‘OK—we’re playing Vancouver they’re third—we’re playing Saskatchewan—they’re first.’ Mentally it’s easier get up knowing other team is at top league…We played Saskatchewan last year finals so they still probably have chip their shoulder too.If can’t get up games like this—it’ll be hard get up any game.”
Saskatchewan features several standout players including Ryan Keenan—currently fourth overall in league points—and Zach Manns; both have scored 26 goals this season.Keenan joins Austin Shanks and Robert Church among four Rush players who each have more than twenty goals and over fifty-two points so far.
