Anze Kopitar became the Kings’ all-time leading scorer on Saturday, passing Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne with a game-tying goal in the third period against the New Jersey Devils.
Kopitar, who said he will retire at the end of the season, has 1,308 points — one better than the 1,307 points Dionne had in his 12 seasons with the Kings from 1975-87.
Kopitar, 38, has a franchise-best 858 assists. With 450 career goals, he trails only Luc Robitaille (557) and Dionne (550) on the team’s all-time list.
Kopitar tied Dionne’s mark on a power-play goal in the second period against the Devils. His record-breaking goal was his 10th goal of the season and tied the score 4-4 late in the third period.
Kopitar ranks 38th in NHL scoring history and is one of nine players in league history to have played in 1,500 games with one team.
“It’s amazing,” Kings general manager Ken Holland said earlier this month. “The league’s been around a hundred and something years. You’re watching one of nine that played 1,500 games with one team. I think it speaks to his passion. It speaks to he does it right every day.
“To play 1,500 games in the National Hockey League, lots of times when players get to a certain age the league starts to go by them because it gets hard. It’s hard during the summer, all the sacrifices you have to make in the summertime. Going to the gym and family sacrifices.
“He plays 200 feet. He plays a hard game. He’s one of the premier two-way centermen of his time. First-ballot Hall of Famer. It’s amazing what he’s accomplished. It just speaks to his passion, determination, love of the game, sacrifices. He’s an amazing player that the fans of the L.A. Kings have got to watch for a long time.”
Kopitar, a Slovenian native, was selected 11th overall by the Kings in the 2005 NHL draft. He scored twice in his Kings debut a year later. A five-time All-Star, Kopitar won the Stanley Cup twice with the Kings in 2012 and 2014. He’s also the longest-serving captain in franchise history.
The Kings hope to make his final season in Los Angeles a memorable one. After four consecutive playoff losses to the Edmonton Oilers, the Kings are battling to secure the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
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