THE CANADIAN PRESS

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Colin Doyle had 1,003 points and four fresh stitches between the eyes when he headed home to Kitchener, Ont., on Saturday night.

The captain of the Toronto Rock scored a goal and assisted on four others in a 14-10 victory over the Buffalo Bandits to become just the third player in pro lacrosse history to get 1,000 points. The stitches were courtesy of a late-game Jon Harasym stick to the face.

"It is what it is down here," Doyle said. "Head shots are free.

"They always have been and that never changes. You have to play tough if you want to beat them here and we did. I'm proud of how everybody stepped up and we withstood everything they threw at us."

Doyle, 32, is in his 13th pro season. The all-time points leader is Buffalo's John Tavares, 41, who has yet to play in this his 19th season because of a calf injury. He's got 1,420 points. Rochester's Gary Gait, 42, who is in his 16th season, had 1,143 after the Knighthawks' 14-8 loss in Boston in the only other National Lacrosse League game Saturday.

"It's nice to be in company like that," added Doyle. "It says something about how long and how hard you play in this league.

"I'm proud of it. I don't play for those kinds of things but it's nice to have goals and accomplishments. To be with Gary and John is obviously a pretty big honour."

Blaine Manning scored five goals and assisted on three as the Rock improved to 5-1 atop the NLL's East Division in front of an HSBC Arena crowd of 14,467.

Steve Dietrich, getting the start in goal after Bob Watson went the distance in a 19-11 home win over Philadelphia on Friday night, relished beating his old team.

"Any time you get a chance to contribute to a win is special," said Dietrich. "The way Bobby's been playing, we didn't really need to make a change so I was lucky (coach) Troy (Cordingley) gave me the call for this one.

"I'm happy to do whatever they want me to do. If Bobby keeps playing like the way he has, we'll ride him all the way."

Toronto outscored Buffalo 5-0 in the fourth quarter thanks to Dietrich and the defence.

"He played really well," said Doyle. "He had some motivation, what with being a stalwart here for so many years."

The Rock blew a 9-6 lead in the third quarter.

"We gave ourselves a lot of reasons to quit and we didn't," said Doyle. "This win should go a long ways for us."

Manning took a hard hit in the opening minutes but pulled himself off the green carpet to play one of the best games of his career.

"I got my back rearranged at the start," he said. "It was a very tough game.

"They were starting to come on and I got a couple of lucky goals to stem the tide (early in the fourth quarter) so I'm pretty happy with that game, that's for sure."

Scoring Toronto's other goals came from Stephan Leblanc, with two, Garrett Billings, Josh Wasson, Cam Woods, Kim Squire, Pat McCready and Brendon Doran. Billings picked up eight assists.

For the Bandits (1-5), Mark Steenhuis, Kyle Clancy and Mike Accursi scored two each and Billy Dee Smith, Frank Resetarits, Brett Bucktooth and Roger Vyse added one each.

Toronto was 4-for-8 and Buffalo was 0-for-2 on power plays, which had a lot to do with the outcome.

Buffalo led 3-1 after one quarter and Doyle's 1,000th point was next. He fed a cross-floor pass to Wasson during a power play for a shot into an open side of Buffalo's net behind goalie Ken Montour 25 seconds into the second quarter.

"He's such a special player," said Dietrich. "I think almost half of his 1,000 probably came against me when I was playing here. It's nice to see a guy like that get some recognition."

Manning joined his teammates in the chorus of praise for Doyle.

"There's only three people who have done it," said Manning. "We presented him with the game ball.

"He's a special player. A 1,000 -- that's something he should be very, very proud of. That's an unbelievable accomplishment."

Helping former Bandits Dietrich, McCready and Phil Sanderson get the win was in all the Toronto players' minds when the fourth quarter began.

"We knew the fourth quarter was going to be a battle," said Woods. "We've been working really hard in practice and priding ourselves in being really in good shape.

"The workouts are paying off. We still had something left in the tank in the fourth quarter. We wanted to do it for Chugger, for Patty and for Flipper."

McCready played the first game of his career in Buffalo as a visiting player.

"This was home," said the St. Catharines, Ont., resident. "It was neat to be back."

And even neater to win.

Notes: Toronto had a 58-41 advantage in shots on goal. ... Rock scratches: Kasey Beirnes, who scored four goals in the 19-11 home win over Philadelphia on Friday, Mike Hominuck, Scott Campbell, Creighton Reid and Anthony Lackey. ... The Bandits traded D Chris Driscoll, who was the Rock's captain last year, to Rochester for second-round draft picks in 2010 and 2012. They've also activated G Mike Thompson and D Clay Hill and moved F Cody Jacobs and G Angus Goodleaf to the practice squad. ... Toronto's next game is at home Friday against Edmonton. Buffalo's next game is at Philadelphia next Saturday.