Caroline Sherman/NLL
What was “just another game” to Jeff Teat was a statement victory for the Ottawa Black Bears.
Teat scored five goals, the 12th time in his career he had five or more — three of them in the fourth quarter — as the Black Bears prevailed over the three-time defending champion Bandits 10-9 at the KeyBank Centre in Buffalo on Friday night.
“Yeah, I don’t know, I think it’s a fun atmosphere, and we were really looking to bounce back from last weekend. I thought we kind of gave that one away, so came in here and needed a full 60 to get a win,” Teat told NLL on TSN’s Brianne Foley after the game.
The Black Bears improved to 4-3 with the win, while the Bandits fell to 3-3. Neither team had lost two straight coming into the game, but the Black Bears handed the Bandits their second straight loss.
“I think it’s just looking through the windshield, not necessarily looking at the past success or struggles, but you know, making small improvements throughout the week and looking to get a win every time you step on the floor,” added Teat.
“I think we’re just a team that just loves to keep looking forward. We’ve got a lot of resilience on this team and we never pout when we struggle, so always looking forward.”
Rob Hellyer assisted on four out of Teat’s five goals. Teat also assisted on both of Hellyer’s, who also finished with seven total points in the win. Teat leads the NLL with 19 goals and 51 points before Saturday’s slate gets underway, while Hellyer stands tied for second, with 16 goals and 28 assists equalling Bandits forward Dhane Smith.
“I think we just feed off each other, swing the ball back-and-forth,” Hellyer told Foley. “For me it’s pretty easy, give him the ball and just kind of stand back and watch, best player in the game, right, so it’s nice having him over there. He’s incredible.”
In goal, Zach Higgins turned in his finest performance of the season yet. Higgins turned away 44 of 53 shots, including multiple point-blank looks from Smith, and finished with a .830 save percentage. MacRae told Foley after the game that the netminder looked really sharp from morning shootaround onwards.
“Our game plan was just to grind them down, grind them down, grind them down and stick to the game plan,” added MacRae. “Our guys were getting beat up pretty good offensively, we were scoring late in those clocks, and then when they had the ball, Higgy was seeing it all night. Rob Hellyer, Jeff Teat, Zach Higgins, all night long.”
This season, an astonishing 13 of Teat’s goals have come in the fourth quarter. “He’s so clutch, but his effort and energy doesn’t change,” said MacRae, who played with Teat during his rookie season.
“He did a couple of down-and-backs, 60-second shifts, and then he scored at the end of one. I think some guys are huffing and puffing [in the fourth], he just keeps getting better, so that has to do with the amount of work he puts in off the field, which people don’t get to see, but that’s the result of it.”
Reilly O’Connor added six assists for the second-straight game, while Sam Firth and Jacob Dunbar rounded out the scoring from the offence. On the back end, Callum Jones scooped eight loose balls and caused three turnovers, including a pick-six in the third quarter.
This year, the Black Bears will play four Friday home games and five Saturday home games from November to April.
Next up at home is a Friday meeting with Vancouver on Jan. 23 at Canadian Tire Centre.
You can view the team’s entire schedule here, purchase Season Seats here, and Single Game tickets here.
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