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Visitors Buffalo-ed by Stealth win in Langley

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The Vancouver Stealth notched their fourth win of the season Saturday, beating the Buffalo Bandits and gaining in the race for the last playoff spots in the Western Division.

Playing at the Langley Events Centre, the National Lacrosse League’s Stealth put up a convincing win of 12-8 over Buffalo.

The Stealth began as they meant to go on, with a goal just 19 seconds in by Rhys Duch, bringing the crowd to their feet.

In the first half, they outscored the Bandits 9-5, with Duch scoring his 500th career regular season point, then surpassing that milestone.

Duch would finish the night with nine points, four goals and five assists, and he was named the game’s first star.

Three of the first nine goals were scored on Stealth power plays.

“Too often this season we haven’t been aggressive enough early on,” said Stealth head coach Chris Hall. “We talked about getting some good shots early and being aggressive, and we were successful with that tonight.”

After the high-intensity scoring during the first half, the scoring declined but the intensity remained in the second.

There were 33 penalty minutes issued in the second half, out of 47 overall.

Trying to stay out of the penalty box was a major challenge for the Bandits, said head coach Troy Cordingly.

“It’s now three games in a row where we felt we were very undisciplined and we have to get back to putting the team first in order to be successful,” Cordingly said.

The Stealth racked up two more powerplay goals in the second half.

The Stealth will be looking for win number five on the weekend, during their April 5 game against the Toronto Rock.

The game against the Rock starts at the LEC at 7 p.m.

The Stealth’s record of 4-9 this season means it needs to catch up to the rival Colorado Mammoth. With the Stealth’s win, and a loss by the Mammoth, they are only one game back of a playoff spot.