Kopitar won’t play tonight but could skate tomorrow

Anze Kopitar (upper-body) is still dealing with some swelling in the area of his injury and won’t play against the Colorado Avalanche, Darry Sutter indicated on Tuesday morning.

Sutter noted that Kopitar is improving but is still under the “day-to-day” designation.

“Just kind of go from there. Hopefully every day we keep seeing improvement,” he said. The center’s injury was suffered early in the third period of Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Ottawa when Senators defenseman Marc Methot angled him into the boards while the Kings were in the attacking zone.

Kopitar did not take the ice with the team during Monday’s practice or Tuesday’s morning skate at the Pepsi Center. Unlike Jeff Zatkoff (groin spasms), Kopitar did not join his teammates late in the on-ice session.

In a conversation with Darryl Sutter on Monday, LAKI learned that Kopitar was taking anti-inflammatory medication, but that he could not skate until he experienced decreased swelling in the area of the injury.

“Prefer that he not [skate] just to let it quiet down,” Sutter said. “Hopefully he’ll skate tomorrow.”

Kopitar has been remarkably durable throughout his 11-year NHL career and has appeared in all 82 regular season games five different times. Since recovering from a broken ankle suffered near the end of the 2010-11 regular season, he has appeared in 385 of a possible 391 games.

In 15 games this season, Los Angeles’ captain has two goals, eight points, a plus-one rating and a Corsi-for percentage of 57.9%.

After tonight’s game against the Avalanche, the Kings return home to face the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.