The contest was highlighted by the goaltending efforts of Mammoth goaltender Dillon Ward, who stopped 40 of 48 shots en route being named the game’s first star.

Forward Zed Williams paced Mammoth scorers with seven points (four goals, three assists), while rookie Brett McIntyre followed up a career-best Game 1 effort with a new personal-best six points (two goals, four assists) Saturday. Despite being rendered without the services of Ryan Lee and Eli McLaughlin, who was moved to the injured reserve list prior to faceoff, Colorado continued to split the offensive workload among the forward unit, as Connor Robinson (three goals, one assist), Chris Wardle (four assists), Tyson Gibson (one goal, three assists) and Dylan Kinnear (one goal, three assists) each contributed to scoresheet as well.

After the teams combined for one goal in the first quarter — Williams at the 2:47 mark — the teams came alive in the second quarter. What began as another quality start for Colorado, with an early conversion from Robinson 78 seconds in was followed up by five consecutive Bandits tallies, coming from Dhane Smith, Ian MacKay, Smith, Josh Byrne and Chris Cloutier. Eventually ending the run, Williams picked up his second of the night with three minutes to play in the half, but was followed by a pair of exchanging goals from Byrne and Robinson at the 14:10 and 14:58 marks, respectively, as Buffalo took a 6-4 lead into halftime.

Kicking these off again early into the period, Williams brought Colorado back within a goal 69 seconds into the third.

Colorado Mammoth forward Zed Williams, left, slides into Buffalo Bandits goaltender Matt Vinc during the second half of Game 2 of the National Lacrosse League finals Saturday in Denver. AP Photo

What seemed like another goal-scoring frenzy brewing for the third after Cloutier and Robinson added rallies at the 1:28 and 3:33 marks transformed into a goaltending showcase, as no goals were scored in the remaining 12-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter featured another quick-hitting start as Kyle Buchanan netted an early marker for the Bandits 46 seconds into the fourth, but that goal would represent Buffalo’s final conversion of the contest, thanks to the Mammoth defense and Ward.

Eventually closing the game out with a five-goal streak of their own, mirroring Buffalo’s from the second, scores from McInytre, Williams, Kinnear, Gibson and McIntyre from the 3:01 to 8:41 mark positioned the Mammoth ahead by three. Successfully defending home turf and its late three-goal lead, Colorado solidified an 11-8 final.

Then Mammoth and Bandits will play a winner-take-all Game 3 in Buffalo at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.