Calgary to Host Colorado in Game 3 Showdown on Saturday for Right to Face Buffalo in NLL Finals

PHILADELPHIA - May 19, 2023 - PRLog -- Following a pair of one-goal contests, the Colorado Mammoth and Calgary Roughnecks will play a winner-take-all National Lacrosse League (@NLL) West Conference Finals Game 3 on Saturday (9:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. MT, TSN, TSN+, ESPN+). The winner will go up against the Buffalo Bandits, who swept the Toronto Rock, two games to none.

Buffalo, the East No 1 seed and overall No. 1 seed, dominated Toronto, 17-8, on Saturday in Hamilton, Ont., to secure its third consecutive berth in the NLL Finals, after having won the series opener, 14-5, on Friday at home. West No. 2 Calgary topped defending champion No. 4 Colorado, 13-12, on Saturday, after the Mammoth had won, 8-7, on Thursday, setting up the decisive West Finals Game 3 showdown at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Some notes on the Conference Finals and potential Finals pairings:

• Including a last-second, 13-12 win at San Diego on May 5, all three of Colorado's playoff games have been one-goal affairs
• In contrast, Buffalo has won its three playoff games by a combined 51-21
• Three of the five games between Colorado and Calgary this season, including the playoffs, have been one-goal games. The Mammoth won, 9-8, on Jan. 7 at Ball Arena before the Roughnecks took wins of 13-9 on Feb. 11 at Scotiabank Saddledome and 16-10 on March 10 back at Ball Arena
• Buffalo lost the past two NLL Finals held, in 2022 and 2019, to Colorado and Calgary, respectively
• Buffalo goaltender Matt Vinc (St. Catharines, Ont.) increased his all-time NLL Playoffs leads in games (42), goalie minutes (2,335), saves (1506) and wins (28) following the Bandits' 3-0 run in this year's postseason. He will also be appearing in his eighth NLL Finals
• The Bandits are 1-3 in playoff contests vs. both Colorado and Calgary all-time
• For the Bandits, this is their 12^th appearance in the Finals. The next highest is the Halifax Thunderbirds franchise with 10, all coming from their time as the Rochester Knighthawks from 1995-2019.
• The NLL announced its end of season award finalists this week (https://www.nll.com/news/national-lacrosse-league-announc...). Many notable players and staff from the remaining teams are in the running including Roughnecks goaltender Christian Del Bianco (Coquitlam, B.C.) and Buffalo forward, Dhane Smith (Kitchener, Ont.) are finalists for the Most Valuable Player award.

Broadcast information as follows:

West Finals, Game 3 – Saturday, May 20 @ 9:30 p.m. ET, TSN, TSN+, ESPN+

Commentators: Teddy Jenner, Brad Challoner, Shantelle Chand

To view the 2023 NLL Playoffs bracket, visit https://www.nll.com/standings/.

http://www.nll.com