NLL Insider

With talks of John Tavares retiring, how it would’ve gone at the HSBC, and a team that just didn’t want it enough, last night Buffalo flopped against New York in the Eastern Division final. The Titans shut down the Bandits to the tune of 9-3 and have earned a trip to Calgary for their troubles, set to face the Roughnecks for the league crown next Friday.

The Bandits were held scoreless by Matt Vinc and the Titans defense for the first 23 minutes of the game before Kevin Dostie struck, eating into the lead created by Jordan Hall and Pat Maddalena. The only other score before the half came courtesy of Ryan Boyle who put the Titans ahead 3-1.

Early in the third, Brendan Mundorf, Mike McLellan and Matt Alrich used the first four minutes to increase that lead to 6-1 before Sean Greenhalgh and Mike Accursi each scored in the span of one minute to cut the lead in half. Unfortunately for the Bandits and the Buffalo fans who made the trip, Accursi’s marker with seven minutes remaining in the third would be the last they’d see of the mesh behind Vinc. Maddalena scored once more and Casey Powell twice for the final lopsided score of 9-3.

Powell quietly led the Titans with two goals and five assists, Maddalena put up two and two, and Mundorf scored one and assisted on three. Jarett Park scooped up ten looseballs on transition, rookie Stephen Peyser won 13 of 14 face-offs, and Vinc turned away a total of 41 shots on 44 attempts. The Champion’s Cup will take place May 15th and 7:30 PM EST, 9:30 MST. Calgary has earned the right to host after dumping the San Jose Stealth 17-5 in the Western final.

• Vagabond Titans reach NLL final: NY Post
• Titans too much for Bandits: Niagara Gazette
• Bandits come up short: WGRZ

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