In Newark Monday night, Anze Kopitar posted a goal and kicked in two assists to lead to the Los Angeles Kings to a 3-1 win over the Devils.
“I think he’s played really well lately,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said of Kopitar. “He’s handled the puck, managed the game, and looked like a dominant player on the ice the last few games.”
The Kings have been alternately playing solid and mediocre hockey over the last few weeks are still on the outside looking in at the playoffs. But several pundits have already written the club off for this post season.
Anze Kopitar chipped in a goal and three points in win over New Jersey – file photo by Jack Lima
Not so fast after Monday’s thrashing of the Devils.
“If we play like that, not turning the puck over and playing with the puck, I think we’ll be fine,” Kopitar said.
Jonathan Quick made 19 saves on the night for the win and faced only eight shots through the first two periods.
“We didn’t get enough pucks to the net,” Devils forward Jordin Tootoo said. “When we had opportunities to get the puck down low, we didn’t.”
It doesn’t get any easier for the Kings who have back-to-back games this week facing the New York Rangers Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.
“We know coming to New York, look who we’re playing,” Sutter said. “We’ve got the Rangers, and look at the kind of year they’re having. Then we go to the Islanders. We’ve got our work cut out [for us].”
The Kings grabbed a 2-0 lead after the first period and seemed to take control of the game and smother the Devils with a solid defense and speed in their transition game.
“We were talking about how needed to come out hard; it’s the start of a road trip, long travel, a time change and we were talking about how we had to come out hard right away,” said forward Marian Gaborik, who set up Toffoli for his goal. “Use our speed, use our forecheck, and I think we did. It was a big 20 minutes to come up two zip there.”
Now it’s on to Manhattan to see what they can do.
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