There's nothing like a good old crisis to light a fire under the Rochester Knighthawks.

It has been this team's pattern throughout its six-year history to play its best lacrosse when there is no margin for error, when winning is the only acceptable outcome.

So with the Knighthawks facing a steep uphill climb to make the National Lacrosse League playoffs, it came as no surprise that they put together a mostly dynamite effort last night in defeating the arch-rival Buffalo Bandits 16-13 in front of 9,269 appreciative fans at Blue Cross Arena.

"We sure as hell don't like to be in this position, but it seems like we get into a little lull in the middle of the season," said captain Randy Mearns. "But now we've come together as a team and every game we're playing is desperate lacrosse."

Duane Jacobs, like Mearns an original member of the Knighthawks who has been through this scenario so often before, agreed with the premise that the team seems to rise to the occasion when confronted with adversity.

"There's a sense of desperation now, and we have a lot of veterans here, and for whatever reason, it brings out the best in us," he said. "I have no idea why it always happens like this, I guess that's just the way it goes."

Despite the victory, the Knighthawks remain in a tenuous position in terms of the postseason. With a 5-4 record, they moved into a tie for fifth place with Pittsburgh, but they own the tiebreaker with the CrosseFire due to a head-to-head sweep.

Only four teams make the playoffs. Rochester still trails Philadelphia (5-2), Buffalo (5-3), Albany (5-3) and Toronto (5-3), and it loses tiebreakers with Albany (head-to-head loss) and Buffalo (two-game goal differential). The Knighthawks must defeat Philadelphia by at least four goals in their upcoming game (15 April, at Blue Cross Arena), or risk losing the tiebreaker to the Wings, as well.

"We know it's a must win every night, but that's kind of the character of the league," said Knighthawks coach Paul Day, whose team has never missed the postseason. "There's only 12 games and it's a playoff series, you can't have an off night or an off shift."

Last night, the Bandits won a scrum for the opening faceoff, raced downfield and Derek Malawsky fired a shot past goalie Pat O'Toole 15 seconds into the game.

Buffalo didn't score again until 9:58 remained in the second quarter, and during those nearly 20 minutes, Rochester scored nine times and the game appeared to be over.

Then again, it's never over in the NLL, and before this one was through, the Knighthawks were sweating profusely.

Playing their second game in a row without two of their prime scoring threats -- injured Casey Powell and Rusty Kruger -- the Knighthawks came out firing on offense.

Curt Malawsky answered his brother's goal two minutes later, Mearns gave Rochester the lead for good 39 seconds later, and before the first quarter was complete, John Grant Jr. and Tim Soudan had scored two goals each and Cory Bomberry once for a 7-1 lead.

Of those markers, all but Soudan's first -- which made the score 5-1 and chased Buffalo's starting goalie Matt Disher to the bench in favor of Marty O'Neill -- came at even strength.

The Knighthawks -- who entered the game with the league's second-worst power play -- finally showed some life with the man advantage as they moved the ball effectively and were pinpoint with their shots.

"We've been fine-tuning it here and there, moving guys around trying to get the right feel for it," said Grant, who led Rochester with four goals. "We have a lot of firepower, it's just a matter of getting the chemistry figured out and things worked well for us tonight."

The count rose to 9-1 as Bomberry and Pat McCready scored in the first four minutes of the second period before the Bandits regained their composure and scored four of the last five goals of the half.

The teams traded two goals in the third quarter, giving Rochester a 12-7 advantage, and then it got interesting.

With Buffalo on a two-man advantage, Grant somehow snuck out the back door on a change of possession and O'Toole fired a strike, sending Grant in for a breakaway which he cashed.

However, the Bandits responded with a dizzying flurry of five straight goals in a 3:09 span, three of them on the power play, to cut Rochester's once insurmountable lead to 13-12.

Just when it looked like the all-time collapse was unfolding, Dan Teat and Ben Hunt scored for Rochester to make it 15-12, and the Knighthawks hung on.

BOX SUMMARY
                                  1  2  3  4     TOT
Buffalo Bandits (5-3)             1  4  2  6  --  13
Rochester Knighthawks (5-4)       7  3  2  4  --  16

BUFFALO BANDITS               ROCHESTER KNIGHTHAWKS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Tavares        1 - 6     7    Co Bomberry    3 - 3     6
D Malawsky     3 - 1     4    Soudan         3 - 3     6
Prat           2 - 2     4    C Malawsky     1 - 4     5
Driscoll       1 - 2     3    Teat           1 - 3     4
Williams       1 - 2     3    Mearns         1 - 2     3
Accursi        2 - 0     2    Hunt           1 - 1     2
Sweet          2 - 0     2    McCready       1 - 1     2
Seller         0 - 2     2    Jacobs         1 - 0     1
R Kilgour      1 - 0     1    O'Toole        0 - 1     1
T Kilgour      0 - 1     1    Zaph           0 - 1     1
Ogilvie        0 - 1     1
O'Neill        0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           56    Shots on goal           39
Saves made by (GA)      23    Saves made by (GA)      43
   O'Neill (11)      22          O'Toole (13)      43
   Disher (5)         1
Penalties               11    Penalties               14
Penalty Minutes         25    Penalty Minutes         31
Power Play Chances      10    Power Play Chances       7
Power Play Goals         4    Power Play Goals         5
Shorthanded Goals        1    Shorthanded Goals        1
Faceoffs Won            18    Faceoffs Won            18
Loose Balls             90    Loose Balls             82

*** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH BUFFALO NEWS ***

Thanks to Bandit for providing the official game stats.