EDMONTON — There was a time when Anže Kopitar could leave a premier defender in the dust like he did Chris Pronger in his first NHL game, but that was 18 years ago. Time and a lot of hard hockey can rob you of the turbo gear you might have once had.
Slovenia’s greatest hockey export will never catch Connor McDavid if the two start in the same spot on the ice. There may be no other hockey player on the planet who can. Keeping up with McDavid is a task like no other. And Kopitar, with 1,373 games and another 94 in playoff duty, will be celebrating birthday No. 37 in August. Father Time is just as much of an opponent as the Edmonton Oilers superstar.
But this isn’t about a race, and Game 2 was about the Los Angeles Kings being in desperation mode following Monday’s Game 1 beatdown. With a chance to head home with a split, Kopitar pulled his team back into the best-of-seven fight by bursting into open space early in overtime.
The Kings couldn’t start Game 3 on Friday with the uphill battle of trying to beat the Oilers four times in five games. Kopitar improved their odds Wednesday night. Their captain with two Stanley Cup rings read a touch pass perfectly and darted in from the Edmonton blue line with a victory on his stick.
Wrist shot, glove side high, series tied.
“Honestly, it was kind of a wacky play to where Mikey (Anderson) throws it up the boards and I think it was (Quinton Byfield) that tipped it or was trying to tip it just to prevent the icing,” Kopitar said. “Next thing you know, I had it right on my stick. Figured I’d make the most of it.”
Anderson called it a “terrible pass” and said the puck jumped on him but went right to Byfield. He was thankful the young forward got a touch on it. Before that, he was expecting the play to return to their end of the ice.
“We were going to have to defend a little bit,” he said. “Next thing we knew Kopi had a breakaway. Very happy he got a piece of it.”
Byfield indeed got the primary assist. “I’ll try to take credit for that,” the 21-year-old said. “I saw Mikey and the puck bounced on him and got a little high, and I was thinking ‘no icing’ and tried to get a stick on it.”
GO DEEPER
Kings finally dismiss Oilers in Game 2 with Kopitar’s OT goal: 5 takeaways
But then he noted how Kopitar “is always in the right spot” and knew if the center got a breakaway, he was going to finish. And that touches on the essence of Kopitar. He’s one of the greatest two-way pivots of his generation and in NHL history — he’ll be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on the first ballot, as goalie Cam Talbot proclaimed — and has the ability to sense where he needs to be on the ice throughout any hockey game.
It isn’t pure speed that gets it done, it’s incredible hockey sense. And it’s why he can deliver a masterful three-point night that included the game-winning goal.
“That’s why he’s been here for 18 years or however long he’s been here,” Anderson said. “He’s so smart. He knows where to be. Maybe doesn’t always move in top speed but he can read the play and knows when it’s time to kick it into gear. When to slow down. I don’t want to say cheat for offense because I don’t think he does it, but he knows when to maybe push for offense or lay back for (defense).
“He’s obviously our guy here. He’s the model and he’s the guy we want to look to. Comes through big for us.”
The early moments were just as big as the final one. The Kings, after their woeful defensive performance in Game 1, needed a spark to force Edmonton to chase the game for once. Just three minutes in, Kopitar’s sense of timing kicked right in. He picked off a clearing attempt by Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard with an incredible read and found Adrian Kempe, who buried a wrister past Stuart Skinner for a 1-0 lead.
Kempe, who has become the Kings’ resident Oiler killer, then pulled off a high-skilled, high-speed redirection out of the air as he finished a three-on-two rush he started. Who gave him the pass? Kopitar, of course.
“He puts himself in the right spots,” Talbot said. “He just knows where the puck’s going. The great ones always do, right? Go where the puck’s going. Not where it is. He always gives himself a chance to be in the right spot. At our age, we start to slow down a little bit. He puts himself in spots where maybe he doesn’t have to try to keep up. He just stays ahead.”
The Kings had their wobbles in Game 2 as leads of 3-1 and 4-3 got away from them. They managed to keep McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to ordinary games for them, but Dylan Holloway burned them for two goals, one to spark a second-period rally and the other that forged a 4-4 tie just after Kevin Fiala scored.
But this was a far better effort. The big guns delivered for the Kings, with Drew Doughty also getting into the goal mix to highlight a 29-minute night. The shutdown line of Phillip Danault, Trevor Moore and Viktor Arvidsson defended well after a brutal Game 1 and pitched in on Doughty’s score. Talbot took his team on a roller-coaster ride amid the occasionally deafening chants of his name by another rollicking Rogers Place crowd, but he also made the save of the night with a stunning robbery of Draisaitl on an Edmonton power play to end the second period.
“We were expecting a much better game from them,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “At times, we controlled a lot of play in Game 1. We knew that was not going to happen for long periods of time in Game 2. We were expecting a strong start from them, and they definitely gave it with the three first-period goals.”
Kings coach Jim Hiller relished his best players coming through at a time when they couldn’t afford to take a 2-0 series deficit home with them. They’re the underdog here and there is still some question as to whether they’ve closed the gap with the Oilers in what’s now a third straight playoff matchup.
But they’ve got two champions that are at their front gate. And their 36-year-old leader is not slowing down even if his body tries to say otherwise.
“The players of that caliber, they just understand the game and they process the game so fast, you can only marvel at it,” Hiller said. “Because nobody’s taught them that. They’ve had that. They figured that out all on their own. And the beauty of Anže is he does that with the puck and without the puck. He does it on both sides. He realizes, anticipates and gets to the right spot.
“One of the rare players that can really do that on both sides of the puck.”
To mildly correct Hiller here, Kopitar’s father, Matjaž, may have had something to do with instilling that sense of anticipation on the ice as a former pro player and coach of the Slovenian national team. His son also chooses humility when talking about that.
“You just try and read the play,” Kopitar said. “And then sometimes you’re in the right spot. Sometimes you’re severely in the wrong spot. Tonight, I was in the right spot a couple of times, I guess, and it worked out.”
OK. We’ll let his teammates sing the praises. Talbot said his current teammate and former longtime foe won’t keep up with McDavid in a speed sense but is so cerebral that he processes the game at an advanced level that keeps him effective against the best players.
“He’s our leader,” Talbot said. “He’s built for moments like that. He’s been around, he’s won and that’s a big reason why. To have him on our team — we know that he’s going to push us every single night. He’s one of the best leaders in the league and he showed why tonight.”
Eighteen years in, Kopitar got his 25th playoff goal and third career overtime winner. That’s the most in Kings history, breaking a tie with Butch Goring, Wayne Gretzky and Alec Martinez. His last one was the Game 1 winner over New Jersey in the Stanley Cup Final, a span of 11 years and 330 days.
At his age, it might seem like a surprise. Anderson isn’t surprised.
“From the outside, maybe for some people,” he said. “You see the stuff he does day to day. The maintenance on his body. How he balances life at the rink. He’s running all over the place with two kids. He’s a guy you learn a lot from. Even if you don’t talk to him, you just watch the way he acts. His mood at the rink. The way he treats everyone.
“He’s the model of this franchise for sure.”
(Photo: Perry Nelson / USA Today)
