Defense Comes Through for Lazers, 5-2 : L.A. Builds an Early Lead and Holds On to Turn Back Baltimore

With offensive stars Willie Molano, Beto and Paul Kitson on the injured list, Los Angeles Lazers Coach Peter Wall has had to rely on his defense to prevent opponents from building big leads.

“We have to keep the score down,” he said. “Maybe that’s a defensive attitude, but that’s what we have to do.”

And with Adam Topolski and Erhardt Kapp back in the lineup, the defense succeeded Friday night. The offense, led by Poli Garcia, built an early lead, and the Lazers (5-10) handily defeated the Baltimore Blast, 5-2, before 4,143 fans at the Forum.

“Topolski and Kapp added a lot to our defense,” Wall said. “We didn’t panic like we did in the past.”

The Blast (10-6) applied most of the pressure early in the game, and it looked as though the Lazer defense would fold, as it has been known to do on occasion.

The Blast scored first at 8:04 of the first period when David Brcic lost control of a Richard Chinapoo shot, and Chinapoo, charging toward the goal, took the rebound and scored his 11th goal of the season.

But Garcia, on a Lazer power play, tied the score at 1-1 from 35 feet out.

Despite being outshot, 14-7, in the first half, the Lazers took a 2-1 advantage into the locker room after newcomer Ivo Surjak, playing in his second game, blasted the ball past the league’s leading goalkeeper, Keith Van Eron, with 1:20 left in the second period.

Topolski gave the Lazers a 3-1 lead when he took an excellent midfield pass from Greg Ion and drilled the ball past Van Eron near the end of the third period.

“We haven’t had a lead going into the fourth, so it was going to be interesting to see if we could maintain our composure,” Wall said.

They did, as Darko Birjukov took a shot that bounced off Van Eron’s hands to a waiting Garcia, who put the ball into the net, giving the Lazers a 4-1 lead with 11:48 left in the game.

Baltimore opted for a sixth attacker, and Surjak quickly made it 5-1. Garcia got the assist.

Baltimore’s Billy Ronson scored with 7:20 left to close out the scoring. Said Wall: “We looked a lot sharper on offense tonight, but we still have got to play a strong defensive game to win.”