Bandits Defeat Seals 5-4 in the Lowest-Scoring Playoff Game in National Lacrosse League History
April 25, 2025 - National Lacrosse League (NLL)
San Diego Seals News Release
An outstanding defensive effort and a tremendous individual performance by Seals' goaltender Chris Origlieri wasn't enough as the Buffalo Bandits held the Seals to four goals and escaped with a 5-4 win on Friday night in a National Lacrosse League single-elimination quarterfinal playoff game at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo. With just nine combined goals, it was the lowest-scoring playoff game in NLL history.
Origlieri was phenomenal, stopping 39 of the 44 shots he saved on the night (88.6 percent).
It was a defensive battle early on with just one goal scored in the opening 15 minutes and it was scored by Buffalo's Ian MacKay.
It took 17:11 of game time, but the Seals finally got their first goal of the game 2:11 into the second quarter on a laser from transition man Zach Currier. Just 38 seconds later, Ben McIntosh found the Seals' leading goal scorer during the regular season, Wes Berg, who fired a shot from the top of the crease that got behind Buffalo goaltender Matt Vinc to put the Seals ahead 2-1. The rest of the quarter was all Buffalo though as the Bandits were the beneficiaries of good fortune and good bounces as they scored four unanswered goals over the final 8:57, including the fourth with just 0.1 remaining, and they took a 5-2 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Coming out of the locker room at halftime, Seals Head Coach Patrick Merrill shook up the lineup moving Tre Leclaire from defense to offense and the move paid dividends as Leclaire scored the only goal of the third quarter as the Seals drew to within 5-3.
Just like the first and third quarters, there was just one goal scored again in the fourth quarter and it was scored by Currier on the power play, but it came with just one second remaining as Buffalo held on for the win. Currier's score was the only power play goal scored of the night by either team. Just like his counterpart Origlieri, Vinc was solid in net for Buffalo as he recorded saves on 48 of 52 Seals shots on the night (92.3 percent).
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National Lacrosse League Stories from April 25, 2025
- Bandits Tie Franchise Record With Four Goals Allowed In Quarterfinal Win Over Seals - Buffalo Bandits
- Bandits Defeat Seals 5-4 in the Lowest-Scoring Playoff Game in National Lacrosse League History - San Diego Seals
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