Although the Buffalo Bandits shot out to an early 3-0 in Saturday night's game against Rochester, the Knighthawks had the last laugh, winning in a 22-11 rout before a crowd of 8,934 at HSBC Arena.

Rochester's Derek Malawsky set a new single-game record for assists, with eleven, breaking the record of ten which he shared with an original Bandit, Derek Keenan.

The Bandits, who have a history of making trades that come back to haunt them (especially trades with Thruway rival Rochester), got quick goals from Rich Kilgour, Chris Driscoll and Pat McCready, all within the first 1:42 of the game, but then their game plan began to unravel, with some of the biggest blows coming from their former 'mates. Over the next twelve minutes, Rochester would get goals from Curt Malawsky, Tim Soudan and a pair each from former Bandits Shawn Williams and Derek Malawsky to grab a 6-3 lead with twenty-eight seconds left in the first quarter. Buffalo's John Tavares scored the last goal of the quarter, cutting the lead to 6-4.

Twenty-three seconds into the second stanza, D’Arcy Sweet, also a former Bandit, got a shot past goaltender Steve Dietrich to give the Knighthawks back a three-goal lead. Cory Bomberry increased that to four goals at 2:11, making it 8-4. Driscoll scored a power play goal for the Bandits two minutes later, and a minute after that Ryan Powell added another goal to bring the Bandits back within two at 8-6. The Knighthawks finished the first half with five straight goals to take a 13-6 lead into the locker room at halftime.

In the third quarter, Rochester continued their scoring run with four more goals, two from John Grant and one each from Duane Jacobs and Jeremy Hollenbeck, and the Bandits were suddenly down by eleven. Pat McCready scored the Bandits’ only goal of the quarter at 8:39 and Curt Malawsky finished that quarter’s scoring with a pair of goals to give the Knighthawks a commanding 19-7 lead going into the final period of play.

The Bandits made a futile attempt to launch a fourth-quarter comeback with goals from Mike Accursi, Tavares and Powell within the first minute-and-a-half of the quarter. Jacobs added two more goals for the Knighthawks, bringing the score to 21-10. Pat Maddalena somehow managed to sneak the ball past goalie Pat O’Toole one last time for the Bandits at 4:04, but the Bandits' comeback attempt would end there. Buffalo amazingly kept Rochester from scoring for an entire five-minute span before Casey Zaph added insult to injury by doubling the Bandits score. Tim Soudan got credit for the game-winning goal for his goal late in the second quarter in this 22-11 rout.

Derek Malawsky earned Player of the Game honors for his thirteen-point performance (two goals, eleven assists), setting the record for assists in a game in the process. Malawsky broke the old mark of ten, set by former Bandit Derek Keenan back in 1992 and matched last season by Malawsky, while he was with the Bandits, in a 26-18 victory over Philadelphia. He finished one point short of the record for points in a game, also set by Keenan in 1992 and matched by Malawsky in 2001 (Gary Gait of Baltimore also had fourteen points in a game, in 1999).

John Tavares and Chris Driscoll were the high scorers for the Bandits with two goals and two assists each.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Rochester Knighthawks (5-1)           6  7  6  3  --  22
Buffalo Bandits (2-2)                 4  2  1  4  --  11

ROCHESTER KNIGHTHAWKS         BUFFALO BANDITS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
D Malawsky     2 -11    13    Driscoll       2 - 2     4
C Malawsky     3 - 4     7    Tavares        2 - 2     4
Williams       4 - 2     6    Powell         2 - 1     3
D Jacobs       3 - 3     6    Couling        0 - 3     3
Co Bomberry    3 - 2     5    McCready       2 - 0     2
Grant          2 - 3     5    R Kilgour      1 - 1     2
Soudan         2 - 1     3    Accursi        1 - 1     2
Zaph           1 - 2     3    Mearns         0 - 2     2
Sweet          1 - 1     2    Ogilvie        0 - 2     2
Hollenbeck     1 - 0     1    Maddelena      1 - 0     1
Abrams         0 - 1     1    Kirkby         0 - 1     1
Campbell       0 - 1     1
Thorpe         0 - 1     1
Turner         0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           61    Shots on goal           46
Saves made by (GA)      35    Saves made by (GA)      39
   O'Toole (6)       24          Dietrich (19)     36
   Campbell (5)      11          Levis (3)          3
Penalties               12    Penalties                9
Penalty Minutes         24    Penalty Minutes         24
Power Play Chances       8    Power Play Chances       9
Power Play Goals         5    Power Play Goals         2
   Williams           2          Accursi            1
   Co Bomberry        1          Driscoll           1
   Grant              1
   D Malawsky         1
Shorthanded Goals        1    Shorthanded Goals        1
   Williams           1          McCready           1
Loose Balls             99    Loose Balls            110
   Campbell          10          Dietrich          18
   O'Toole            9          Ogilvie           13
   Soudan             9          McCready          11
   Turner             9
Faceoffs Won            17    Faceoffs Won            20
   Thorpe       ( 9- 9)          Kirkby       (12-12)
   Co Bomberry  ( 6- 8)          Langdale     ( 6- 1)
   Hollenbeck   ( 2- 3)          R Kilgour    ( 2- 2)
                                 Accursi      ( 0- 2)

  *** STATS OFFICIAL BY VERIFY WITH BUFFALO BANDITS ***