Penalties abounded at HSBC Arena Saturday night when the Buffalo Bandits took on the Washington Power in the season opener for each club. New league rules resulted in six power play goals, four shorthanded goals and numerous four-on-four situations. When the dust settled, the Bandits emerged with a 17-15 win, sending the 6,718 in attendance happily home.

Rich Kilgour took the game’s first penalty when he was sent to the box to sit five minutes for high sticking. Both Gary and Paul Gait scored on the resulting power play to give the Power a 2-0 lead with eight minutes left in the first quarter. Josh Sims then scored, unassisted, to give Washington a 3-0 lead about two minutes later. Randy Mearns finally put the Bandits on the board with four minutes remaining in the quarter when he scored a short-handed goal while Andy Ogilvie was serving a two-minute sentence for cross-checking. John Tavares cut Washington’s lead to 3-2 with a power play goal of his own with under two minutes left in the period.

The second quarter began with Paul Gait checking Buffalo’s Kyle Couling into Washington goalie Devin Dalep. Both Couling and Gait received two-minute penalties -- goaltender interference and cross-checking, respectively. Bandit rookie Jamie Taylor and Washington’s Jon Brothers dropped the gloves immediately following the resultant face-off and were both ejected. When the penalties were finally sorted out, the Power were down a man and the Bandits were down two. Gary Gait found the back of the net, for the second time, just over a minute into the second stanza, giving the Power a 4-2 lead. Tavares scored his second a minute later and Chris Seller scored the Bandits’ first even strength goal of the game to tie the game at four with ten minutes to play in the half. Mearns gave the Bandits their first lead of the evening at the halfway mark of the period, but Washington tied the game again when Del Halladay scored yet another power play goal just thirty seconds later. Paul Cantabene took the lead back for the Power at 6-5 when he scored just six seconds after Halladay.

With four minutes left in the half, and Washington with the ball, Buffalo’s Ryan Powell dove towards the boards trying to intercept a Washington pass, slid across the turf on his stomach and somehow managed to jump to his feet with the ball in his stick. Without missing a beat, Powell passed the ball to Couling, who was breaking down the floor. Couling’s goal tied the game at six, but Cantabene would once again give the Power a one-goal lead when he scored short-handed two minutes later. After thirty minutes of play, Washington lead, 7-6.

The third quarter began with Gary Gait lighting the lamp for the third time and giving back to Washington its two-goal cushion at 8-6. Tavares brought the Bandits back within a goal, and Pat McCready tied the game at eight when he scored on the power play that resulted from Casey Connor's high-sticking penalty with five-and-a-half minutes remaining. Mearns gave the Bandits back the lead for the last time thirty seconds later. Chris Seller tallied his second of the night to make it 10-8 and Ryan Powell scored two quick ones to give the Bandits a 12-8 lead to take into the final fifteen minutes of play.

In an attempt to retake the lead, Washington opened the fourth quarter with three straight goals in the first two minutes -- two from Paul Gait, including yet another power play goal, and one from Kip Fulks. Rob Kirkby gave the Bandits a two-goal lead again at 13-11 with ten minutes remaining. Tavares then had a goal called back for a crease violation, and Paul Gait again cut the Bandits lead to one, at 13-12, with seven-and-a-half minutes left in the game. Mike Accursi, who is recovering from knee and ankle injuries, scored twice for Buffalo, giving the Bandits a 15-12 lead. Halladay scored for Washington, and McCready answered for Buffalo only to have Halladay score again to make it 16-14 in favor of the Bandits with two minutes remaining.

Washington pulled their goalie in favor of the extra attacker with one minute left and then turned the ball over in Buffalo’s end. Rich Kilgour came up with the ball and as he ran towards the empty net, Fulks pulled him down from behind just as he shot the ball and his shot went over the cross bar. Kilgour was credited with a goal, however, because league rules state that if a player is heading for an empty net uncontested, and a penalty occurs he is awarded the goal. (If the goalie had been in the net, the Bandits would have been awarded a penalty shot) Kilgour’s goal raised the Bandits lead to 17-14, and Matt Shearer scored the final goal of the game with 27 seconds left. Buffalo managed to survive a scary fourth quarter and came out with a 17-15 victory.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Washington Power (0-1)                3  4  1  7  --  15
Buffalo Bandits (1-0)                 2  4  6  5  --  17

WASHINGTON POWER              BUFFALO BANDITS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
G Gait         3 - 7    10    Tavares        3 - 3     6
P Gait         4 - 3     7    Driscoll       0 - 6     6
Halladay       3 - 4     7    Mearns         3 - 2     5
Shearer        1 - 3     4    McCready       2 - 3     5
Cantabene      2 - 0     2    Powell         2 - 2     4
Fulks          1 - 0     1    Seller         2 - 2     4
Sims           1 - 0     1    Accursi        2 - 1     3
Connor         0 - 1     1    R Kilgour      1 - 2     3
Reese          0 - 1     1    Kirkby         1 - 2     3
Wills          0 - 1     1    Ogilvie        0 - 3     3
                              Couling        1 - 1     2
                              Dietrich       0 - 2     2
                              Langdale       0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           55    Shots on goal           57
Saves made by           40    Saves made by           40
   Dalep             40          Dietrich          40
Penalties               11    Penalties               13
Penalty Minutes         22    Penalty Minutes         26
Power Play Chances       7    Power Play Chances       5
Power Play Goals         6    Power Play Goals         4
   G Gait             2          Mearns             3
   P Gait             2          Tavares            1
   Halladay           1          
   Shearer            1
Shorthanded Goals        1    Shorthanded Goals        1
   P Gait             1          Tavares            1
Loose Balls            119    Loose Balls            100
   Cantabene         20          Dietrich          15
   Dalep             19          Tavares           13
   P Gait            15          McCready          12
Faceoffs Won            20    Faceoffs Won            16
   Cantabene    (18-12)          Kirkby       (15-13)
   Brothers     ( 2- 2)          R Kilgour    ( 1- 2)
   Horsey       ( 0- 2)          Accursi      ( 0- 4)
                                 Langdale     ( 0- 1)

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