Taro T

Dhane to Buchanan to MacKay to Nanticoke for a PP goal. His 3rd of the game makes it 12-9.

Bandits about to go up on the PP with 8:50 left in the 3rd.

Durn it. 11-9. McLaughlin with his 3rd.

MacKay to McCulley to Dhane. 10-8. Cloutier to Natitcoke. 11-8.

Nanticoke makes it 8-8 28 seconds into the 3rd. They did in the 2nd. But not so far this Q. 9-8 Fraser.

Bandits couldn't score yet on the man up but will have 0:38 left on it to start the 2nd half. Colorado 8 - Bandits 7 through 30.

Looked like the Bandits were going to break out, but Kinear on the rug steals it back to Lee and the bad guys are up by 1 again with 2:26 left in the 2nd. Bandits going to the man up after Fraser was nearly tackled.

McCulley with 5:16 left in the 2nd. Tied at 7. Was off a real nice feed from Nanticoke.

Nick Weiss called for roughing on Robinson behind the Bandits net. This one is starting to get physical. Gibson with a seeing eye shot from out very high. 7-6 bad guys.

Great save by Vinc. Still tied. 8:40 left in the 2nd.

Looks like it's coming back. His toe was JUST on the line.

Fraser with the wrap around. 7-6 Bandits. 10:13 left in the 2nd.

Bandits are running across the top of the box a lot on offense as there aren't many passes open. This has been effective so far as when Ward has to move across the top of the crease he leaves some openings. Colorado's unorthodox defensive style gave the Bandits fits in the playoffs last year and in their earlier match up this year. Robinson scores on a PP for the Mammoth. 6-6.

MacKay "dancing through the D." Bandits up by 2 again. McLaughlin with another. 6-5.

Zed Williams again. 5-3. McLaughlin with 2.9 seconds left. 5-4 at the end of 1.

And Vinc wisely crawls out of the net on his butt making sure a Colorado shot following up a Zed Williams crossbar doesn't count. (Ball probably wasn't in the net, but Matt was taking no chances.) Just over 2 mintues left in the 1st, still 5-2.

Dhane Smith with his 4th. 5-2.

Bandits mauled in front of Colorado goal but no harm no foul per the refs. Zed Williams gets the ball and springs Downie on a fast break. Colorado on the board. Less than 5 minutes left in the 1st, 4-1. And Ryan Lee follows that one up. 4-2 Bandits. 202 seconds left in the 1st.

And the Great Dhane nets his 50th playoff goal and his 3rd of the game on the PP from Cloutier. 6:44 left in the 1st, 4-0.

And Fraser follows his own rebound and makes it 3-0 less than 5 minutes into the game.

The Great Dhane from Cloutier 40 seconds in. And then Dhane follows it up about a minute later from MacKay. 2-0. 2:02 into the game, Bandits have a 2 goal lead.

No Josh Byrne tonight. Upper body injury. Hadn't heard anything about a potential injury until just now. Bummer. Need Buchanan and Fraser to step up and fill in for his missing offense.

TV Network Scheduling Change. Don't know if the NLL website was wrong or if ESPN changed stuff up last minute, but TONIGHT's GAME IS ON ESPN2 AT 7PM NOT ESPNU. Monday's game is still set for ESPN2 at 4PM Eastern.

IMHO, it's a false dichotomy. There will be 4/5's like Graves that on paper would fit great with the Sabres situation that are UFA's. Can't see the Sabres adding 2 guys that truly fit into the top 4 (because 3 of the 4 spots are solid and they have kids that will be in the mix to fill that 4 role in the near future), but 1 and another 5/7 could be very possible. There also is the 800 # gorilla in the room which is Olofsson who is under contract for 1 more year but had lost his spot in the top 12 who should be quite valuable on the trade market. This year's 1st or next year's 1st along with Olofsson should be able to bring in a guy that either can compete for top 4 duty or is a young guy with potential that can be top 7 this year and legit 4/5 next year (right when they have to decide whether to re-up Lyubushkin or let him walk). Don't see where they need to give up on even Rosen to land a good RFA/younger D-man with the other assets they have. And Olofsson and one of this year's 2nds might be enough to bring that package should they add say a Weissbach type prospect to the offer. It'll be interesting to see if with getting Johnson signed (and still having Stillman, Clague, and Bryson) if they only bring in that 1 guy that fits into the top 4 and run with what they have to cover 3rd pairing and injury replacements. Want that extra guy brought in as well, but am now kind of leaning towards that part not happening.

It's possible it was an "ELC holdout" but considering he signed shortly after Minnesota finished its graduation week activities (like a day later) its alos possible that he was taking Adams advice and living in the moment of where he was at. Will be very interesting to see what his bonuses are. Puckpedia didn't have the contract as of ~30 minutes ago.