Lazers Gain Playoff Berth, Beat Steamers in Overtime

Matched against the league’s weakest opponent, the Lazers sought to earn their first playoff spot in three years Wednesday night against the St. Louis Steamers.

A simple enough task, given that the Lazers had outscored their three previous foes, 25-6, and that the Steamers had posted a 5-20 record in road games this season.

But rather than the lopsided affair one might expect, the Steamers took the Lazers into overtime before Chico Borja made the Lazers’ dream a reality with a 25-foot shot 1:01 into the extra period that put the Lazers in the playoffs with a 6-5 win.

“Maybe we needed a game like that,” Lazer Coach Keith Tozer said. “The team kept plugging away and showed (it) had character. That’s what won it, character.”

As it turned out, the Lazers would have qualified anyway, because the Wichita Wings lost in overtime to the Tacoma Stars--a Lazer win or a Wichita loss was what was needed.

Trailing, 5-3, 9:38 into the fourth period, it looked as though the Lazers might have to enter the playoffs through the back door.

“Our passes weren’t as crisp, and we weren’t as sharp as we had been,” Tozer said.

But the Lazers (28-24) mounted a spirited comeback before a Forum crowd that was generously announced at 4,108.

Thompson Usiyan, one of the Lazers’ hottest players lately, scored his second goal of the game 9:38 into the fourth period to bring the Lazers within one, then completed the hat trick five minutes later to send the game into overtime.

On the Lazers’ first possession in the St. Louis zone, Paul Child dished the ball off to Borja at the top of the penalty box, where he easily beat St. Louis goalkeeper Slobo Ilijevski for the game-winner.

“Everybody felt down because (St. Louis) had brought us down to their level,” Child said. “But everybody knew we could come back and we did.”

St. Louis (16-35) opened the scoring 1:54 into the game on a goal by Boki Bandovic.

The Lazers, who began the game with less intensity than in their previous three games, became more aggressive in the second period and got goals by Chris Chueden and Borja within the first two minutes to take a 2-1 lead.

Borja’s 44th goal of the season 1:57 into the period was the 17th consecutive game in which he had scored at least a point.

Former Lazer Poli Garcia, who also scored a hat trick, got his club-high 45th goal midway through the period to tie the game, 2-2, but Usiyan put the Lazers back up, 3-2, 11:23 into the second period with a sliding scissors-kick that got by Ilijevski.

Garcia evened things up 12:35 into the period, and the teams were tied, 3-3, at intermission.

The Lazers will travel to Wichita for a game Friday night against the Wings.