Kopitar shooting; Murray wants more

If there was a number that jumped out, after the Kings’ victory over Detroit on Saturday, it was the number nine. That’s how many shots on goal Anze Kopitar totaled in the game, the highest total by any Kings player in a game this season. Kopitar’s previous high this season was six shots on goal. For the season, Kopitar has 89 shots on goal, or an average of 3.56 per game. Last season, when he scored a career-high 34 goals, Kopitar averaged 3.16 shots on goal per game. Still, Terry Murray said he would like to see Kopitar’s shot total increase. Entering today’s game, Kopitar’s shot total ranks him 29th in the NHL, and he has the highest shot total among the Kings this season.

MURRAY: “Yes, I would like to see his shot count — as compared to the rest of the league — get to a higher number, and that’s how it’s going to happen, by putting those pucks to the net like that. Our team shot-on-goal average is about 28.6, which puts us at 24th in the league. The conversation that we had, from the day that I got here, was (about) having a shot mentality and net presence. We want to get up into the top half of the league, for sure. So there’s a need for an improvement and focus in that area.”

The news is slightly better than Murray believes. The Kings actually rank 23rd, with a 28.6 average…

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