THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — The sensational Mark Steenhuis did it again.
The National Lacrosse League’s scoring leader blew a long bouncer past Toronto goalie Bob Watson 46 seconds into overtime to give the Buffalo Bandits a 17-16 victory over the Rock on Friday night.
It was his eighth goal of the game. He also assisted on two. Last weekend, Steenhuis amassed a single-game NLL record of 17 points including 13 assists in Buffalo’s 25-10 trashing of the Rock.
"I’m trying to learn more and more how to take the game as it comes," Steenhuis said of being a set-up man one week and a shooter the next. "Last week the guys were doing a great job of getting open and I saw them and they were hitting their shots.
"This week I found myself a little bit more open for some shots and I just tried to bury them."
Steenhuis tops the league in scoring with 31 goals and 33 assists for 64 points in eight games.
Also starring for Buffalo (7-1) was John Tavares, who scored six goals. Mike Accursi, Cory Bomberry and Sean Greenhalgh added one goal each.
"Mark Steenhuis scores big goals and that’s why he’s one of the best players in the league, if not the best," said Tavares, who would have been the first star had Steenhuis been human.
The Bandits overcame a six-goal halftime deficit.
"We started getting more loose balls and second chances" Tavares said of the drastically different halves. "We developed some momentum and, thank God, we had enough to tie it at the end and win it in overtime thanks to Mark Steenhuis."
For the Rock (2-5), Chad Thompson and Luke Wiles each scored three goals, Blaine Manning, Josh Wasson and Lewis Ratcliff got two each and Mark Scherman, Scott Campbell, Stephen Hoar and Jason Crosbie added one each in front of an announced Air Canada Centre crowd of 12,844.
"There’s a lot of positives to take out of that game," said Thompson, who didn’t score in Toronto’s first six games and who missed all of last season rehabbing from a knee injury. "It was probably our best game of the year."
Steenhuis scored with 37 seconds left in regulation time, on a long shot into a top corner of the Toronto net, to force sudden death.
"The guy is very dynamic," said Batley. "He can go 1-on-1 and score in tight and he can score from way outside.
"He can score from anywhere. He’s on top of his game and in phenomenal shape. He’s a great player."
Watson won’t get down on himself despite his lowly standing in the league-wide goaltending stats.
"You’ve got to start somewhere and I think we took a positive step tonight," he said.
The Rock played much better than they had in Buffalo last weekend but, in the end, the effort wasn’t enough to keep them from falling further out of contention in the East Division.
"Our guys played hard," said Batley. "We had 16 goals so that was promising.
"Defensively, other than Mark Steenhuis getting eight and Tavares getting six, I thought we battled back well from the 25-10 game. We really think we played well enough to win. All in all, we’ve got to continue on this hard-working path. We really feel guys are in tune with what we want to do and are responding."
Toronto took an 8-4 lead at 5:33 of the second quarter. Buffalo coach Darris Kilgour sent in Ken Montour to replace starting goalie Mike Thompson. It was the turning point.
"I was a backup goalie in this league for a long time so I know that, when your team needs you, you’d better be ready," said Montour.
Montour entered the game with the league’s best goals-against average and save percentage but, with Kilgour alternating goalies from game to game, it was his turn to sit. After Montour pulled on his helmet, the Bandits began playing with more confidence. Toronto led 11-5 at halftime, but Buffalo had a huge third quarter.
"A six-goal lead at halftime is a nice lead to have but, in this league, it’s not the end of the game," said Steenhuis. "We knew coming into the second half that we could really change the game around if we put our minds to it."
.Added Montour: "We started winning some faceoffs and things started going right for us. We worked harder all over the floor in the second half and started winning the battles. It translated into goals. But we’ve got to play smarter from the start next game — not just in the second half."
Steenhuis got his sixth goal with a low shot at 11:52 off a fast break to move Buffalo within 16-15, and he scored his seventh with a shot that went into the net off Watson’s elbow with 37 seconds remaining in regulation to make it a next-goal-wins scenario. Steenhuis ended it with his third consecutive goal.
"He hides the ball well behind his body, he mixes his shots up, and he’s very accurate," said Watson. "Obviously, you want to stop the shots but I didn’t come up with the saves."
Buffalo defenceman Chris White, wearing the C because Rich Kilgour sat out, wasn’t happy with the 16 goals allowed.
"We came in a little flat to start the game and we let Mikey Thompson down," said White. "Hopefully, we won’t let that happen again.
"We’ve got two outstanding goaltenders and Kenny came in and held the door for us. We got our legs under us and our offence started going."
The defending champions are primed to repeat.
"I love this team," said Steenhuis. "We pretty much have the same team as last year, when we went through a lot in building it and facing adversity.
"Now, when things get thrown at us this year, we have a bit more calm and relaxed approach to things. We’re handling things as they come."
Tavares isn’t totally satisfied.
"We’re halfway there," said the NLL’s all-time leading scorer. "We’re in first place in our division with a good record but we’re not entirely happy with it.
"We seem to have a Jekyl and Hyde team — show up one game and not show up another game. We have to show up every game and play a full 60 minutes if we want to win another championship."
Notes: Toronto had a 59-53 shots edge through 60 minutes. Steenhuis ended it with the next shot on goal …Buffalo was 3-for-4 and Toronto was 3-for-6 on power plays … The next Rock game is at home against Minnesota next Friday, while the Bandits are at home against the Swarm next Saturday … D Cam Woods sat out with a lingering leg injury, which made room for D Mike Hobbins of Peterborough, Ont. Hobbins played for coach Jamie Batley in Chicago last year and signed with Toronto on Thursday … D Pat McCready of St. Catharines, Ont., came off the injured list to make his season’s debut with the Bandits, and he got into a second-quarter fight with Campbell … The Toronto Nationals, the new team — and only Canadian entry — in the pro field Major League Lacrosse, are expected to have in their lineup NLL stars such as Colin Doyle, John Grant, Jeff Zywicki, Gavin Prout and Brodie Merrill. The 12-game schedule runs from May through August and will include six home games at BMO Field.