The track record bodes well for the Blast as they begin their quest for a third straight Major Arena Soccer League championship with an Eastern Division finals series against the Syracuse Silver Knights.

The Blast’s all-time record against the Silver Knights is 26-6 (13-3 marks both home and away), and they are 2-0 against them in playoffs, the most recent win coming in the 2015-16 season.

But not so fast.

When the Blast open the best-of-three series tonight at 7:05 in Syracuse, they’ll expect a significant test.

This season, the Blast won the first three games against the Silver Knights, but all were by one goal. On Sunday, with nothing to play for, the Silver Knights claimed a 6-4 win in the regular-season finale.

The Silver Knights have a savvy group of veterans hungry for it to be their turn. Joey Tavernese (28 goals, 26 assists, 54 points) leads an offense that also includes Slavisa Ubiparipovic, Kenardo Forbes and Bo Jelovac. Goalie Andrew Coughlin is among league leaders with 13 wins.

“We’ve always had a tremendous amount of respect for them and the quality players they have,” said Blast coach Danny Kelly, who noted the Blast’s triple-overtime win against the Silver Knights in Game 1 of the 2015-16 playoff series. “They have special players and i don’t think you can completely stop them, but we have to limit their production. It’s a stiff challenge, but this is why we play and we look forward to going to Syracuse and getting a win.”

The Blast counter with their balanced attack led by captain and leading scorer Tony Donatelli, Vini Dantas and Andrew Hoxie. Every Blast postseason run has featured players emerging to provide an added spark and midfielder Jonatas Melo and forward Juan Pereira — both in their third seasons — are prime candidates.

Vanzela working hard to return: Blast star goalie William Vanzela, who has been sidelined since Jan. 19 after suffering a torn adductor tendon in his groin, hopes to return at some point in the playoffs, but said he isn’t sure on the timeline.

The six-year veteran, who has been instrumental in the Blast’s three league championships since his arrival, returned to practice this week. Before his injury, Vanzela won 11 games with a 4.18 goals-against average; his .770 save percentage is tops in the league.

“I’ve been working really hard, in therapy three times a day and doing everything I possibly can to be able to play,” he said.

Veteran Joey Kapinos, who was signed immediately after Vanzela’s injury, is 6-3 with a 5.23 goals-against average and .682 save percentage. He’ll likely start in Thursday’s opener at Syracuse.

Home cooking tastes good: Smaller has turned out to be just fine for the Blast, who moved from Royal Farms Arena to Towson University’s SECU Arena and enjoyed an 11-0 regular-season mark in their new home.

With a shorter playing surface — going from 200 feet of length at Royal Farms to 150 — and fewer seats — 10,500 to 3,800 — the Blast have made the most of the more intimate setting.

“Now that we’re used to it, I think it’s a pretty big advantage for us because the size of the arena compared with the other arenas is so much smaller,” Melo said.

Replay added: The MASL is launching a video replay system for the playoffs. During the game, video replay can be initiated by the referee only when the referee has a strong sense that there may be an error in one of three areas — a goal or no goal, red card situations and major rules errors.

Quick hits: In their 22-game regular season, the Blast played in 13 one-goal games and came away with 10 wins. ...The average home attendance was 3,400. … Donatelli was the Blast’s leading scorer in the regular season with 22 goals and 21 assists for 43 points, ninth in the league… Defender Pat Healey finished second in the league with 43 blocked shots.

glenn.graham@baltsun.com

twitter.com/GlennGrahamSun