Kopitar, Kings start road trip with win over Devils
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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.
"It was big," said Kopitar. "That first period was good for us."
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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.
"For us to come out like that, it's tough," said Schneider. "It was just not a good start."
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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.
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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
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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.