The Buffalo Bandits defeated the Philadelphia Wings, 19-14, Friday night before a crowd of 7,526 at HSBC Arena, establishing the Bandits' first winning streak of the season.

Prior to tonight, the Bandits had not won consecutive games or lost consecutive games this season.

Tonight's match originally was scheduled for 29 December, but was rescheduled after more than seven feet of snow fell on Buffalo that week.

Three minutes into the game, Tom Marechek opened the scoring to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead. John Tavares scored Buffalo’s first goal to tie the game at the four-minute mark, then gave the Bandits a 2-1 lead sixty seconds later. The Wings’ Kevin Finneran answered with a pair of his own to put Philadelphia up 3-2 with five minutes remaining in the first quarter, and Mike Accursi ended the period by knotting the game at three on a power play goal.

Finneran got his hat trick just a minute and a half into the second quarter, to put the Wings up 4-3. Buffalo then picked up shorthanded goals from Tavares and Chris Langdale to go up 5-4, then Kyle Couling added a goal of his own to give the Bandits their first two-goal lead of the game, 6-4, with nine minutes left to play in the first half.

The Wings answered with three goals of their own to grab a 7-6 lead, from Tom Ryan, Andrew Wasik and Marechek. Buffalo’s Jonas Derks, Chris Seller and Pat McCready all scored in the next minute and a half to put the Bandits up 9-7 with three and a half minutes left before half time. Wasik scored his second of the night, and Finneran nailed his fourth to tie the game at nine with fifty-five seconds to play before intermission. Ten seconds later, Accursi took the lead back for the Bandits, and they went to the locker room with a 10-9 lead.

The Bandits opened the second half with six goals in a row. Accursi and Roy Colsey scored power play goals in the first two and a half minutes, then Tavares added an even strength goal to put the Bandits ahead 13-9 at the four-minute mark. Pat Maddalena added another power play goal to make it 14-9, and Kevin Howard beat Philadelphia goaltender Dallas Eliuk to increase the Bandits lead to 15-9.

Tavares added his fifth of the night for a seven-goal Buffalo lead before Philadelphia’s Jeff Ratcliffe ended the scoring run with his power play goal ten minutes into the third. Keith Cromwell and Finneran added two more Philadelphia power play goals to bring the Wings within four, at 16-12, with less than two minutes left in the period. Pat Maddalena closed the third quarter scoring and the Bandits took a 17-12 lead into the final stanza.

Two and a half minutes into the final fifteen, Derks took a beautiful diving shot and beat Eliuk to put the Bandits up, 18-12. Eliuk, in an uncharacteristic show of frustration, kicked Derks in the back as he lay on the turf and was ejected from the game with a match penalty, which carries an automatic one-game suspension.

Chris Sanderson came in to replace Eliuk and Colsey capitalized on the resulting power play to put the Bandits up 19-12 with eleven and a half minutes remaining before the final whistle. Ryan and Finneran finished the scoring with power play goals with seven and four and a half minutes remaining, respectively.

Tavares led the Bandits' scoring and earned Player of the Game honors for his ten-point (five goals, five assists) night. Mike Accursi was second for Buffalo with three goals and four assists for seven points. Kevin Finneran led the Wings with nine points (six goals and three assists), while Marechek finished close behind with two goals and five assists for seven points.

BOX SUMMARY
                                      1  2  3  4     TOT
Philadelphia Wings (5-5)              3  6  3  2  --  14
Buffalo Bandits (7-5)                 3  7  7  2  --  19

PHILADELPHIA WINGS            BUFFALO BANDITS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Finneran       6 - 3     9    Tavares        5 - 5    10
Marechek       2 - 5     7    Accursi        3 - 4     7
Ryan           2 - 3     5    Colsey         2 - 2     4
Cromwell       1 - 3     4    McCready       1 - 3     4
R Traynor      0 - 3     3    Mearns         0 - 4     4
Wasik          2 - 0     2    R Kilgour      0 - 3     3
Ratcliffe      1 - 1     2    Derks          2 - 0     2
P Jacobs       0 - 2     2    Maddelena      2 - 0     2
Slate          0 - 2     2    Langdale       1 - 1     2
                              Couling        1 - 0     1
                              Howard         1 - 0     1
                              Seller         1 - 0     1
                              Gelsvik        0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           58    Shots on goal           54
Saves made by (GA)      35    Saves made by (GA)      44
   Eliuk (18)        35          Dietrich (14)     44
   Sanderson (1)      0
Penalties               13    Penalties               14
Penalty Minutes         32    Penalty Minutes         37
Power Play Chances      11    Power Play Chances      10
Power Play Goals         6    Power Play Goals         6
   Finneran           3          Accursi            2
   Cromwell           1          Colsey             2
   Ratcliffe          1          Maddelena          1
   Ryan               1          Tavares            1
Shorthanded Goals        0    Shorthanded Goals        2
   (None)                        Langdale           1
                                 Tavares            1
Loose Balls             94    Loose Balls             96
   Ryan              14          McCready          15
   P Jacobs          13          Dietrich          14
   Marechek           9          Tavares           13
   Ratcliffe          9          
Faceoffs Won            19    Faceoffs Won            19
   P Jacobs     (19-16)          Derks        ( 9- 3)
   Stilley      ( 0- 3)          R Kilgour    ( 2- 3)
                                 Langdale     ( 0- 2)
                                 Couling      ( 0- 1)

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