Express jumps out to lead, rides to 10-7 win
Montreal led 5-1 after one quarter, never trailed afterwards
Deb McAllister (Outsider's Guide Assistant Editor)

Ted Dowling had a hat trick, including two critical fourth-quarter goals, as the Montreal Express grabbed an early lead Friday night and hung on to it, beating the Buffalo Bandits, 10-7, at Molson Centre.

John Tavares opened the scoring just sixteen seconds into the game, and Jason Crosbie tied it up soon after. Mat Giles gave Montreal a 2-1 lead and the Bandits were off to their usual slow start again. Eric Pacey increased the Express' lead to 3-1, Dowling made it 4-1 and Brian Bendig upped it to 5-1 before the first quarter ended.

Tracey Kelusky scored his only goal of the night to start the second quarter, increasing Montreal's lead to 6-1. The Bandits tightened up their defense, and goaltender Steve Dietrich played an awesome quarter. Chris Driscoll scored for the Bandits, to cut Montreal's lead to 6-2 on a great pass from Tavares. The assist on this goal was Tavares' seven-hundredth career point, joining only Gary Gait in this exclusive scorers' club. Mike Accursi found the back of the net to make it 6-3 in favor of Montreal at the end of the first half.

Tavares and Accursi scored the only two goals of the third quarter, bringing the Bandits to within a goal at 6-5. The fourth quarter began with Montreal on the power play, and Dowling capitalized on it, ending the twenty-eight-and-a-half-minute scoreless spell for the Express. Randy Mearns got the point back for the Bandits and made it 7-6, but Dowling quickly scored his third of the night to make it 8-6 with just over eleven minutes left to play. Pacey gave Montreal a 9-6 lead before Jason Clark could finally score one for the Bandits and make it 9-7 with five minutes remaining before the final whistle.

In the last two minutes of the game, and the Bandits on the power play, coach Ted Sawicki pulled goalie Steve Dietrich in favor of the extra attacker to try to score two quick goals and force the game to overtime. Montreal killed the penalty, and Peter Lough scored an empty net goal to finish the game with Montreal getting the win at 10-7.

Other than Dowling, the only multiple-goal scorer for the Express was Pacey, whose role on the Express isn't exactly to challenge for the scoring lead. Tavares (2+3) and Mearns (1+3) led the Bandits on the scoresheet.

The loss left Buffalo coach Ted Sawicki planning on how to bounce back and qualify for the playoffs, and that starts with Saturday's home game against Columbus.

"I figure we need to go 10-6 to get in the playoffs," Sawicki said. "And that means beating Columbus twice and beating Albany twice. So yes, it's a must-win [Saturday night]. But we have to start thinking that is so every game."

Game Report reprinted with permission from The Outsider's Guide to the NLL. (Original text is here.)