FINAL – Kings 6, Jets 5 (SO) – Kopitar, Kempe, McLellan

The LA Kings skated to a 6-5 shootout victory over Winnipeg on Tuesday evening at Canadian Life Centre in Manitoba.

The Kings got four goals from forward Anze Kopitar in the victory, while Gabe Vilardi scored the game-tying goal late in the third period and forward Adrian Kempe buried the game-winning goal in the shootout.

Winnipeg jumped out to an early two-goal advantage, courtesy of a pair of goals from defenseman Josh Morrissey. First, after a point shot deflected off the endboards and into the crease, Morrissey crashed in and converted off the scrum to open the scoring. Less than two minutes later, he buried his second goal of the period with a slap shot from the left-hand circle, which went top glove for his 12th goal of the season.

The Kings answered back through Kopitar, however, who got the visitors on the board with a power-play goal less than 60 seconds into the middle stanza. After an early minor penalty assessed to the Jets, the Kings set up Kopitar in the right-hand circle, where he buried a one-timer for his 21st goal of the season and a 2-1 score.

The Jets pushed back, however, to re-gain a two-goal advantage off the rush. Forward Kyle Connor worked his way into the offensive zone, skated into the left-hand circle and buried a shot high on the glove side for his 27th goal of the season, second most on the team.

Kopitar brought the game level with a pair of deflected efforts, as he completed his hat trick in a span of 10:17 in the second period. First, the captain drove the net and got a stick on defenseman Alex Edler’s shot from the left point, bringing the visitors back to within a goal. The Kings evened the score when Kopitar deflected a shot from defenseman Drew Doughty to complete the tenth fastest hat trick in franchise history.

Forward Kevin Stenlund answered with a pair of goals of his own to put the Jets ahead 5-3 at the second intermission. Stenlund scored his fourth goal of the season 12 minutes into the middle stanza, as he fired home top blocker from the right-hand circle for a 4-3 advantaage. He extended the lead to 5-3 with a shorthanded goal, as he collected a pass from forward Adam Lowry and scored off a 2-on-1 rush to complete a six-goal period.

The visitors stormed back in the third to tie the game with a pair of goals to force overtime. First, Kopitar buried his fourth goal of the night to tie a single-game, career-high. Vilardi went on to tie the game in the final five minutes of regulation, as he forced a turnover in the offensive zone, moved in alone on Hellebuyck and fired top shelf for his team’s fifth goal of the night.

After a scoreless overtime period, the Kings got a shootout goal from Adrian Kempe and three saves from goaltender Pheonix Copley to seal the second point in the skills competition.

Hear from Kempe, Kopitar and Head Coach Todd McLellan following the win.

Adrian Kempe

Postgame thoughts from Kempe following the W! 🎙#GoKingsGo | @LAKings | @CarrlynBathe pic.twitter.com/wyTk1stKSl

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) March 1, 2023

Anze Kopitar
On a huge night and a big win on the road
Yeah, it was a big win. I’m obviously happy to contribute, but to show the character of being down multiple times, coming back and ultimately winning in the shootout, it’s two very big points for us.

On the team’s comfort level even when trailing in the third
We’d like to be on the other side of things and play with a lead, but sometimes you’ve got to come from behind to win and it feels good.

On the physical nature of tonight’s game
We know they’re a physical team coming in and it’s that time of the year. Everybody is playing to their best, playing physical with lots of emotions and we had to match them.

Todd McLellan
On Anze Kopitar’s performance in tonight’s game
The hot hand, any shot had a chance, he had four but he could have had six, so we’re really happy for him. Great leadership is stepping up and pulling us through at the back end of a trip when it doesn’t look real good. A lot of other guys followed him. I’m still disappointed, though, in some of our players, believe it or not. We’re going to have that type of game, we just don’t have enough guys going right now. That’s got to change for the next 20 games.

On the team’s comfort level even when down 5-3 in the third period
Well, the one thing we believe is we can score, which is a nice change from years past. Keeping the puck out of the net is still a challenge for us, for different reasons and we’re going to continue to work on that. For me, if you’re not scoring regularly, you have to be doing some other things and doing them well, doing them consistently, night in and night out.

On if the issues he saw tonight were the same as the game in New York
Somewhat, yes, it was different but the same. You know, I keep going back to a group of players and I’ll deal with that, but we need more from them. We need more.

On Gabe Vilardi’s play since coming back from injury
I think he’s getting better. I will say, I thought he skated better before his injury, that’s natural. You’re off for that long, plus the game has gotten quicker. I think some of the guys who have come back from injury, even Trevor Moore when he came back, it’s faster, it’s March hockey now, it’s not November or December hockey. It’s fast and the games are moving and you’ve got to be able to move. Gabe has done the best job of the injured guys coming back and being able to find his game the quickest.

Notes –
– Anze Kopitar (4-0-4) scored his second career four-goal game, matching his record for most goals in a single game (4-0=4, March 22, 2018 at COL). He is the second Kings skater to record a four-goal game this season (Adrian Kempe, 4-0=4, Feb. 11 vs. PIT) and fifth different skater in Kings history to register multiple four-plus goal games during their Kings career (Marcel Dionne, Mike Murphy, Bernie Nicholls and Luc Robitaille).
– Kopitar (35 years, 188 days) is the oldest skater in franchise history to record a four-goal game and fourth-oldest to record a hat trick. The only players older at the time of their three-goal game are Luc Robitaille (39 years, 336 days on Jan. 19, 2006) and Bob Nevin (36 years, 307 days on Jan. 19, 1975; 36 years, 209 days on Oct. 13, 1974).
– Kopitar’s four-goal outing marked his 44th career multi-goal game, tying Charlie Simmer for sixth-most in franchise history. He also surpassed Wayne Gretzky (125) for the third-most road multi-point games in Kings history.
– Gabriel Vilardi scored his 19th goal of the year with the game-tying marker in the third period.
– Adrian Kempe scored his 12th career shootout goal, which also marked his second career game-deciding shootout goal.
– Kevin Fiala extended his team-leading point total to 64 (21-43-64) with an assit. Only six players have had more assists in their first season with the Kings: Wayne Gretzky (114 in 1988-89), Larry Murphy (60 in 1980-81), Jozef Stumpel (58 in 1997-98), Jason Allison (55 in 2001-02), Marcel Dionne (54 in 1975-76) and Craig Conroy (44 in 2005-06).
– Drew Doughty (0-2-2) collected two assists for his 115th multi-point game of his career.
– Alex Iafallo skated in his 400th career NHL game, becoming the 24th active undrafted skater to reach such feat.

The Kings are scheduled to fly back to Los Angeles following tonight’s game and have a scheduled team off day tomorrow.