Forty-year-old forward John Tavares scored the game-winning goal with 1:32 remaining to give the Buffalo Bandits a 10-9 victory over the Minnesota Swarm before a crowd of 11,458 Saturday at the Xcel Center.

Tavares scored his only goal of the evening after he took a feed from Mark Steenhuis to spoil what had been a big Minnesota comeback. The Swarm never led, trailed by as many as five goals and didn’t tie it until the final five minutes.

The ageless Tavares finished with a game-high five points on a goal and four assists for Buffalo (4-0), which has won four straight to start the season. Roger Vyse, Cory Bomberry, Sean Greenhalgh and Kevin Dostie all added three points for the Bandits.

Defensively, goalie Mike Thompson saved 58 shots.

In a losing effort, Kevin Ross and Dean Hill each had a co-team-high four points on a goal and three assists for Minnesota (2-1). Kevin Fines and Ryan Ward both scored twice.

Buffalo raced to a 5-0 lead, a game-starting run that was capped by Kyle Schmelzle’s goal with 12:41 remaining in the second quarter. Minnesota answered with four straight goals and pulled to within one at 5-4, 7-6, 8-7 and 9-8 before finally tying it.

Fines drew the Swarm level for the first time since the game was scoreless in the opening minute when he finished a feed from Sean Pollack with 4:26 to play in regulation.

The game stayed tied for about three minutes, but Tavares sent the home crowd home unhappy.

“We played well, but we can play better,” Minnesota General Manager Marty O’Neill said in a news release.