In Los Angeles, it was a night of numbers. Anze Kopitar collected his 1,200th career NHL point, the Kings put a six spot on the board, and LA and the visiting Minnesota Wild combined for 154 penalty minutes in a fight filled contest.
“Obviously, been amazing to play with him, to get to play with him and see him break all these records,” the Kings’ Trevor Moore said of Kopitar. “It feels like every night we got something new, so to be a small part of that and to be able to have those memories is really cool.”
Viktor Arvidsson collected his first marker of the season in the win.
David Rittich made 31 saves in the win.
The Kings moved to 36-22-11 off their third win in four matches.
LA scored three in the first and three in the second to rout the Wild.
Phillip Danault staked the Kings to a 1-0 lead at 5:08 of the opening stanza, scoring off a deflection.
Kevin Fiala pushed the lead to 2-0 at 15:03, hitting off a power play from the slot.
Arvidsson collected his marker at 16:26 for a 3-0 advantage headed to the middle frame.
“Obviously, it’s been a long, long haul, long rehab process, coming back and getting hurt again,” Arvidsson said. “The recent injury wasn’t anything related to the other stuff I had, so that was good. At least it was unlucky. It was hard mentally to go into rehab again, start the grind again, but I’m happy to be back and it’s a great feeling.”
The Wild dropped to 34-28-8, snapping an eight-game point streak.
“It’s obviously a tough loss, and it wasn’t from a lack of try or want to do it,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “I think some things got away from us, and we have to go back and digest it.”
In the middle frame, scoring and frustration piled up.
Matt Roy hit with 28 seconds gone in the second for a 4-0 lead to the Kings.
Jordan Spence ballooned the advantage to 5-0 with a power play strike at 7:34.
“It’s just one of those games where you feel like every bounce, every puck goes the other way,” Minnesota’s Mats Zuccarello said. “That’s hockey sometimes. I think the score lies a little bit about how the game was.”
Kopitar collected his goal at 17:15 for the 6-0 final count on the scoreboard.
“If you take it back almost a month, I think he’s played very, very well,” LA coach Jim Hiller said. “And he’s getting rewarded in the last 10 days with some points, but his game, he’s elevated his game over the last month.”
Use CodePHN15 Kopitar picked up 1,200th point for #PHNChairoftheNight
Marc-Andre Fleury got the start for the Wild, he made 11 saves, and surrendered five goals before getting the hook in the middle frame.
Filip Gustavsson made 10 saves in a mop up role. .
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