Anze Kopitar scores twice in Kings’ victory over Red Wings

DETROIT —  Anze Kopitar passed Wayne Gretzky on the all-time scoring list -- for the Los Angeles Kings, that is.

Kopitar scored twice to help the Kings beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-2 Sunday night.

The goals gave Kopitar 919 career points, moving him past Gretzky and into fourth place on the franchise list.

“I mean, he probably got his points in 400 games, not the number it took me to do it, but when you are mentioned in the same sentence as Wayne, it’s a pretty big deal,” Kopitar said. “Maybe I can brag about this one for just a little bit, because I’m not going to break any of his other records.”

Jeff Carter and Tyler Toffoli also scored for Los Angeles, which has won three of its last four (3-0-1). Alex Iafallo had two assists and Jack Campbell, who is from Port Huron, Mich., stopped 22 shots.

“We got off to a good start. We checked really well and had a good structure for about two periods,” said Kings coach Todd McLellan, a former Red Wings assistant coach. “I thought we got away from it a little in the third period, and that’s a lesson to learn. We haven’t played a lot with a three or four-goal lead and we’re still learning how to handle it.”

Defenseman Madison Bowey had a goal and an assist, and Filip Zadina also scored for Detroit. Eric Comrie finished with 28 saves.

“I thought we got out-competed, out-executed and outworked,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “If you do those three things you have no chance.”

Hockey

Elliott: NHL coaches keep getting fired for behaviors known and unknown

The Dallas Stars fired Jim Montgomery for a ‘material act of unprofessionalism,’ which raised more questions as coaches around the NHL are under scrutiny.

Dec. 14, 2019

Carter gave the Kings a 1-0 lead with 7:45 left in the first period when he put in his own rebound from just below the left circle, after intercepting a pass by Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek. It was Carter’s 10th goal.

Kopitar scored twice in the second period to make it 3-0. His attempted pass from the top of the left circle went in off the skate of Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson 40 seconds into the period and Kopitar cashed in on a rebound with 8:46 left in the middle period forhis 13th.

Toffoli scored 6:40 into the third period, getting his ninth, for a 4-0 lead. Toffoli has seven points (three goals and four assists) in his last four games.

Zadina thwarted Campbell’s shutout attempt midway through the final period. It was his second goal of the season and second in three games. Bowey added his second goal with 2:23 left.