Kopitar a force at both ends of ice

Anze Kopitar made a big impact on last night’s game with two goals, but perhaps just as big was what he did on the other end of the ice. Matched up, defensively, against Detroit’s top line of Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom, Kopitar helped keep them off the scoreboard, just as he did last Saturday at Staples Center. Murray estimated that “there might have been one shift where he [Kopitar] was not out there against those guys,” but Murray was fine with that. In fact, he likes that matchup, and is comfortable with it even during home games against Detroit, in which the Kings have the venal line change. Murray was asked today what, specifically, about Kopitar’s defensive game made him so effective.

MURRAY: “It’s the recognition of elite players in the world. Those two guys [Datsyuk and Zetterberg] are some of the best hockey players out there, and that’s a challenge that you take on, personally, like Kopi does. Same thing with Zeus [Michal Handzus] when he’s matched up against some of those lines, when I get the last change. I was looking to try to change on the fly last night, to get him out there against Bertuzzi and Franzen. It didn’t happen all the time, but those kinds of matchups are exciting for players. Kopi welcomes it. His reads on the checking part of the game, to me, from the first year — when he worked so hard at figuring that part of the game out — to the last two years, he’s really good without the puck. He really has good awareness and makes the correct read, and reads off of his wingers very well. If something breaks down, he’s the guy that sorts it out, recovers and gets in the right position. He leans on Datsyuk, he leans on Zetterberg, and he’s so big and so strong that he pulls on them and it takes away that puck-possession time that they normally have, in games that I see. It was just a very solid game by him, both ways.”

Of course, the two goals were nothing to sneeze at either. Kopitar has five goals in his last five games and now, suddenly, is ahead of last season’s 34-goal pace. Murray had strong praise for Kopitar’s overall game against the Red Wings.

MURRAY: “Kopitar, I thought he was a real monster out there last night in his game. He was powerful in his play, both sides of the puck. He has a great influence in our team, in that he’s a young guy himself but he has a great impact on the young players on this team, because he can take the puck and make plays with the puck in heavy, heavy traffic. We need more of that, taking the puck in tough situations. Whenever you’ve got checking pressure over the top of you, or you’re coming into a group of guys, have the confidence to take it and make plays and skate the puck out of trouble. He shows that, night in and night out, but last night, against a real good hockey club, he really stood out to me. With the power that he can play with, he’s holding people off, he’s attacking, he’s going to the net real hard. Just an excellent game.”