Seven years ago: Kopitar’s Game 1 OT winner (videos, photos, links)

A trip down Memory Lane turned up several interesting recollections of the Kings’ first game in the Stanley Cup Final in 19 years, which ended seven years ago tonight when Anze Kopitar beat Martin Brodeur in overtime of Game 1 at the Prudential Center. A broken play that came as the result of several misplaced jabs and swats of the puck on an ice surface made soft by a hot and humid day, Justin Williams calmly backhanded a bouncing puck towards a radius around Kopitar, who went on to score what for 24 hours served as the biggest goal in franchise history.

“You’re really just trying to finish the game,” Kopitar said prior to his first visit back to the Prudential Center in November, 2013. “It was really hot, I remember. I talked to a couple guys on the bench. They were not feeling great. The cramps were coming in, so I just wanted to really finish it. This was the play that you don’t get too often, especially not in OT. I wanted to make sure I made it count.”

Justin Williams also spoke about about the heat in the arena and how he didn’t see Kopitar, “but sometimes as a hockey player you can just feel when people should be in a certain area.”

I'll never forget Emrick pulling out his vocal bag of tricks to not say "pass" and instead said "twisted along"

— Jonathan (@jehawks) May 30, 2019

Kings Vision (RIP) did a great job capturing the game-winner as part of their award-winning Stanley Cup Moments series:

Links: Sutter postgame quotes (May 30) (LAKI) | Players dealt with Game 1 jitters (LAKI) | Players didn’t find ice to be nice (LAKI) | Anze Kopitar in right place at the right time for Kings (LA Times) | Five Years Later (LAKI)

May 30, 2012 Photo Gallery

–Lead photo via Elsa/Getty Images