Anze Kopitar’s big night fuels Kings’ rout of Vegas in season opener

LOS ANGELES — The Kings appeared revamped, rejuvenated and reinvented successful a 6-2 connection triumph implicit the Vegas Golden Knights successful Thursday’s play opener, but fans were intimately acquainted with the night’s apical players.

Captain and halfway Anze Kopitar had a chapeau instrumentality arsenic portion of a five-point explosion, Drew Doughty had a extremity and 3 assists and winger Dustin Brown chipped successful with a extremity and an assist. Winger Alex Iafallo recorded a brace of assists, but newcomers besides shined arsenic halfway Phillip Danault tallied successful his Kings debut, winger Viktor Arvidsson got his archetypal assistance arsenic a King and winger Vladimir Tkachev contributed 2 assists successful his archetypal NHL game.

Cal Petersen had 23 saves and was not astir arsenic engaged arsenic the Vegas goaltenders, who faced 47 shots from the Kings.

“The enactment group, I cognize we’re getting older oregon immoderate you privation to accidental but we’re inactive driven and we privation to triumph again,” Doughty said. “That’s each we attraction astir and we spell retired determination and play our butts and pb by example.”

Former Ducks defenseman Shea Theodore and halfway Chandler Stephenson scored for Vegas. Robin Lehner’s nighttime ended prematurely aft giving up 4 goals successful 2 periods, and backup goalie Laurent Brossoit mopped up the 3rd period, but not earlier allowing 2 much goals. Former Kings defenseman Alec Martinez had an assistance for Vegas and was saluted with a video montage and applause during an aboriginal stoppage.

Kopitar completed his 5th vocation chapeau instrumentality with 4:54 left, a counterattack near him with the puck successful abstraction and each defenders trailing him. His forehand-to-backhand deke undressed Broissoit and the hats went flying.

“You effort to enactment successful the moment, you don’t deliberation astir (statistics) excessively much, you conscionable play,” Kopitar said.

Kopitar acceptable a franchise grounds with 5 points successful a play opener. The past clip the Kings had a chapeau instrumentality successful their archetypal crippled was Jari Kurri successful 1991. Luc Robitaille had the archetypal successful 1988.

At the sportsbooks, Kopitar’s over/under for a constituent full this play is successful the debased 60s. On Thursday helium joked that helium was connected gait for 350, though helium sold himself abbreviated arsenic the existent albeit intolerable fig is 410.

Stephenson’s third-period extremity accomplished small much than putting a knick successful Petersen’s stats.

Less than 2 minutes into the 3rd period, the Kings had extended their pb to 5-1, converting connected the powerfulness play for the 2nd clip successful arsenic galore opportunities connected a Doughty one-timer from precocious successful the zone. Doughty said winning draws and getting shots aboriginal successful powerfulness plays were emphases for the Kings.

“The powerfulness play, we cognize it was precise bully for astir 3 quarters of the twelvemonth past twelvemonth and past it benignant of blew up successful our faces, truthful we’re precise determined to person a bully powerfulness play for the full play this year,” Doughty said.

The 2nd play saw the Kings prehend further momentum and initiate respective creaseless passing sequences. Their 3rd extremity conscionable past the midway constituent of the crippled was 1 specified illustration erstwhile a two-on-one unreserved saw winger Adrian Kempe merchantability a changeable and past driblet a walk to Kopitar for an uncontested goal.

Vegas sustained a imaginable nonaccomplishment acold much concerning than the 1 connected the scoreboard erstwhile their apical guardant Mark Stone exited the crippled with a lower-body injury. Stone planted connected his close limb for a wrist shot, winced and went to the dressing country instantly with the assistance of the grooming staff. Newly acquired Evgenii Dadonov took his spot connected the apical line.

Just implicit 3 minutes into the 2nd stanza, Doughty collected his 3rd constituent of the nighttime erstwhile helium initiated a kinetic passing series and past near alert with a constituent changeable that Danault deflected disconnected Theodore’s skate and into the net.

The archetypal extremity of the caller play came from the aged guard. Kopitar won an arduous committee conflict against 2 defenders, shrugged disconnected a brace of checks and sent the puck to the constituent for Doughty, who recovered Brown streaking to the nett for a changeable and past a rebound extremity astatine the 13:15 mark.

“Brownie acceptable the code for america early, helium made immoderate large hits, helium scored a large extremity for america and the remainder of the squad benignant of followed him,” Doughty said.

All 3 mainstays were besides connected the crystal for the Kings’ 2nd goal, wherever they scored connected the season’s archetypal powerfulness play. Tkachev made a saucer walk diagonally crossed astir of the violative portion that was adjacent parts elegance and precision. Kopitar’s searing wrist changeable from the constituent gave the Kings a 2-1 pb successful the last infinitesimal of the archetypal period.

“(Tkachev) is precise poised with the puck and everything, truthful I tried to springiness him a lane for him to person to thread the needle done a full clump of people, past I was conscionable trying to get it connected net,” Kopitar said.

Vegas had scored first, 9 minutes into the game, connected a agelong changeable done postulation by Theodore. It was a acquainted show for the visitors and the Kings alike. Vegas tallied archetypal successful 36 of its 56 games past season, winning 31 of those and earning points successful 33 of them. Conversely, the Kings ceded the archetypal extremity 35 times and won conscionable 7 of those games.

“A truly bully motion for america was erstwhile they scored a extremity and it didn’t faze america excessively much. Maybe successful the past that would person been a velocity wobble that would person turned into 2 oregon 3 (goals),” Kopitar said.

What besides differed distinctly from past play was however the Kings handled the aggression of guardant Keegan Kolesar. Last season, Kolesar dominated guardant Austin Wagner successful a fight, but this clip astir winger Brendan Lemieux felled Kolesar with a dense close hand.