NLL Insider

New York will travel to Buffalo in the Eastern Divisional Final this Saturday, May 10. The game kicks off at 7:30pm EST. Tickets are still available. The game will also be broadcast live from HSBC Arena on WGR Radio 550 AM, starting with a 30-minute pre-game show. Of course, you can also tune into B2 Live TV worldwide. That broadband broadcast will be available approximately 10 minutes before the start of the game.

The New York Titans have been one of the league’s hottest teams down the stretch, and continued their strong play last weekend with a 11-8 win over the Minnesota Swarm. Casey Powell was clutch in that game. With the score tied at 8-8, Powell tallied twice on individual efforts to push the lead to 10-8. He had four goals and seven points in the victory.

Jeff Ratcliffe legally dove through the crease at every opportunity and had a hat-trick. Pat Maddalena contributed two goals, six points and Ryan Boyle had five assists.

“It was a great win for the franchise,” said New York head coach Adam Mueller of the Titans’ first playoff win. “Getting in the playoffs was our fist goal. Winning our first round game was just amazing.”

“The guys accepted our long road schedule during the season pretty well this year,” added Mueller. “I think they’re were just happy there was a season this year. Just playing was important to them as opposed to whether it was on the home or on the road.”

“We go up to Buffalo this weekend. We haven’t had luck there, but the guys are confident. I think our trick is to just let them play loose and enjoy the playoffs in the second year…. Hopefully we give Buffalo our best efforts of the year.”

“I think the best thing is to just try and keep our composure and weather the first ten minutes of the game… Buffalo is a tough place to play. They’ve got a great team. They’ve got a potent offense, and a bruising, punishing defense. And they’ve got a wild crowd behind him.”

The Bandits outscored Philadelphia 5-2 in the fourth-quarter last weekend to earn a 14-12 victory with late goals from Mike Accursi, Kevin Dostie and Billy Dee Smith. Stars John Tavares and Mark Steenhuis were held relatively in-check, combining for one goal and six points between them.

“The guys really rallied together and they played as a team in the fourth quarter and they were able to pull it off,” added Buffalo head coach Darris Kilgour. He started Mike Thompson (.79 SV%) last week but will go with Ken Montour this week. Montour had a league-best .81 SV% during the regular season.

“Kenny’s been pretty much the MVP of our team his year, but out of loyalty I gave Mike the start, he played very well his last two starts,” stated Kilgour. “At the same time, I think Kenny Montour earned the start. I believe all the guys are confident in him, I know I am.”

Matt Vinc (.82% SV) will start at the other end. He made 37 saves last weekend and has been a key reason to New York’s strong success in the second half of the season. Their run started with a 10-9 OT victory over the Bandits at home back on Feb. 10 when rookie Jordan Hall scored the winner.

“They’re playing very well in front of him, and he’s playing very solid behind them,” said Kilgour of Vinc. “And the confidence just snowballs. Once you start believing in each other, then anything is possible… They’re playing very well right now, they’re a very dangerous opponent.”

The winner of this game will host the Champion’s Cup final. The NLL just announced that final game will be televised in Canada on ‘The Score‘.

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