The Philadelphia Wings had their 1998 championship ring and banner ceremony come to a sudden halt when Travis Kilgour scored the last of his six goals on the evening in overtime, propelling the Buffalo Bandits to an 18-17 victory before 14,348 spectators at First Union Center.

The Wings got off to a fast start, scoring the first three goals of the game. But Buffalo, aided by three consecutive minor penalties to Jake Bergey, capitalized on two of those three power play opportunities to cut the lead to one. Travis Kilgour scored in the final minute to give the Bandits a tie at the end of the first period.

The second period was more wide open than the first. The Wings controlled most of the early part of this period, having two separate two-goal leads. But an uncharacteristic lack of discipline took its toll on Philadelphia, as Buffalo got consecutive power play goals to tie the game at seven. One of the power play goals came on a two-man power play; the other coming after a Delay of Game penalty on Philadelphia. With Buffalo trailing 8-7 in the final thirteen seconds, following a Bandit time-out, the Bandits pulled goalie Marty O'Neill for an extra attacker, and the gamble paid off, as Travis Kilgour received a perfect feed in the slot from John Tavares and beat Dallas Eliuk high with five seconds remaining, to give the Bandits an eight-all tie at halftime.

In a period modeled more after the first than the second, Buffalo took their first lead early in the third on Jamie Batley's unassisted goal, and led by two on a goal by Neal Doddridge. But, after another minute, the Wings were back tied with two goals in under a minute, include Todd Katanchik's first as a Wing. Late in the period, though, Chris Panos ripped one past Dallas Eliuk from in close to give the Bandits a one-goal lead after three.

If you like your lacrosse games with a lot of scoring, the fourth period of this game was certainly the best in recent memory. Just a minute and a half into this period, Buffalo exploded to a seemingly insurmountable four-goal lead. But, only three minutes later, Philadelphia tied the game with four goals in 1:50, including two of the four goals that Tom Marechek would score just in this period. Buffalo would try to pull ahead to stay, getting two quick goals in thirty seconds, but would not succeed in regulation time, as Marechek tied the game with 1:32 left to force the game into overtime.

The Wings were snakebitten in overtime, with Tom Slate ringing a shot of the goal post and Jake Bergey shooting high over Marty O'Neill from in tight. After Bergey's failed attempt, O'Neill outletted to Fannell near half-field and, prior to changing, passed off to Travis Kilgour, whose long range shot beat Dallas Eliuk for the game winner in OT.

"We have a lot of new faces this season," Wings forward Kevin Finneran said. "We didn't play smart."

Travis Kilgour led all scorers with eight points, on six goals and two assists. For his efforts, he was named Game MVP. Marechek paced Philadelphia with seven points (6G, 1A).

BOX SUMMARY
                                  1  2  3  4  5     TOT
Buffalo Bandits (1-0)             3  5  3  6  1  --  18
Philadelphia Wings (0-1)          3  5  2  7  0  --  17
Winning goal scored at 2:11 of overtime period

BUFFALO BANDITS               PHILADELPHIA WINGS
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
T Kilgour      6 - 2     8    Marechek       6 - 1     7
D Kilgour      2 - 4     6    Bergey         2 - 4     6
Cordingley     1 - 5     6    Traynor        2 - 4     6
Panos          3 - 1     4    McEvoy         1 - 4     5
Tavares        2 - 2     4    Katanchik      2 - 2     4
Rosa           0 - 3     3    Jenner         1 - 2     3
Batley         2 - 0     2    Rogers         0 - 3     3
Cecconi        1 - 1     2    Finneran       2 - 0     2
Doddridge      1 - 1     2    Bates          1 - 1     2
Fannell        0 - 2     2    Flynn          0 - 2     2
Hasen          0 - 1     1    O'Grady        0 - 1     1
R Kilgour      0 - 1     1
O'Neill        0 - 1     1
Santos         0 - 1     1
Steinwald      0 - 1     1

Shots on goal           65    Shots on goal           62
Saves made by           45    Saves made by           47
   O'Neill                       Eliuk
Loose Balls             76    Loose Balls             63
Faceoffs                13    Faceoffs                26
Penalties               10    Penalties                9
Penalty Minutes         23    Penalty Minutes         21
Power Play Goals         4    Power Play Goals         3
Two-man Adv Goals        2    Two-man Adv Goals        1
Shorthanded Goals        0    Shorthanded Goals        1

STATS OFFICIAL BY CONFIRM WITH BUFFALO NEWS

The Buffalo News and Philadelphia Daily News contributed to this report.