Newark, NJ (SportsNetwork.com) – Anze Kopitar tallied a goal and two assists
as the Los Angeles Kings kicked off a five-game road trip with a 3-1 win over
the New Jersey Devils on Monday.
Andrej Sekera and Tyler Toffoli each lit the lamp and Marian Gaborik supplied
two assists for the Kings, who continued their playoff push by rebounding from
a 4-1 loss to Vancouver on Saturday.
Jonathan Quick made 19 saves in the win.
Scott Gomez scored and Cory Schneider stopped 30 shots as the Devils dropped
their second game in a row following three straight wins.
Sekera put the Kings on the board at 10:44 the first period. He took a pass
from Kopitar at the blue line and ripped a shot from the top of the left
circle over Schneider’s shoulder for his first goal since coming over from
Carolina at the trade deadline.
Toffoli increased Los Angeles’ lead to 2-0 during a two-man advantage by
accepting a cross-ice feed from Gaborik and wristing a shot over a sprawled
Schneider.
The Devils cut the deficit in half just 2:12 into the middle stanza on Gomez’s
snap shot from the right side of the net.
Kopitar provided the Kings with some distance as he followed a strong penalty
kill by burying the rebound of Jake Muzzin’s one-timer from the point 5:05
into the third.
Schneider was pulled with two minutes to play, but the Devils were unable to
solve Quick to force an extra session.
Game Notes
Kings forward Mike Richards logged 11:41 of ice time in his first NHL game
since Jan. 21. He played 16 games with Manchester (AHL) following his demotion
on Jan. 27 … Kopitar tallied his 385 and 386th career assists, surpassing
Butch Goring for sixth overall on the franchise’s all-time list … Kings
defenseman Alec Martinez played for the first time since Feb. 7 after missing
time with a concussion, while forward Jarret Stoll missed his fifth straight
game with an upper-body injury … Devils forward Steve Bernier played in his
600th NHL game … New Jersey forward Mike Cammalleri returned to the lineup
after missing two games with flu-like symptoms.
