Usiyan Scores Three Goals as Lazers Beat Comets, 8-4

The Lazers and Kansas City Comets ended a closely contested season series Wednesday night in a game that wasn’t very close, which has to have the Comets concerned about the playoffs scheduled to begin later this month.

Most bothersome to the Comets, it would appear, is figuring a way to stop Lazer forward Thompson Usiyan, who scored three goals to lead the Lazers to a 8-4 victory before a Forum crowd of 4,872.

Usiyan, who has 15 goals and 11 assists in his last 8 games, has 11 goals and 9 assists in 7 games against the Comets this season. The Lazers have won four of the seven.

The Lazers (30-25) can gain the home-field advantage against the Comets (29-25) either by winning Saturday against the Wichita Wings or if the Comets should lose one of their two remaining games.

Trailing, 3-2, six minutes into the third period, the Lazers found themselves in a tough situation, as they had committed six fouls to give the Comets a power play.

But instead of giving up a goal, the Lazers’ Mark Frederickson stole the ball made a long pass downfield to a streaking Jim Gabarra, who scored a short-handed goal to tie the score, 3-3. Gabarra also finished with three goals--the first three-goal game of his career.

Usiyan scored twice late in the third period, once on a close-range head shot to put the Lazers ahead, 5-3. The Comets’ Dale Mitchell scored near the end of the period to pull his team to within one goal, but Usiyan went to work again early in the fourth, stealing the ball from the Comets’ Tasso Koutsoukas and scoring his 51st goal of the season to put the Lazers ahead, 6-4.

The Lazers then got goals from Paul Child and Gabarra to put the game out of reach.