WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Sean Couturier had two goals and an assist and Noah Cates added a short-handed goal and two assists to lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 7-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.
Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, Travis Sanheim and Nick Seeler also scored for the Flyers (40-27-12), winners of four of their last five games. Michkov added an assist, and Rasmus Ristolainen finished with two assists. Dan Vladar had 27 saves.
Hadyn Fleury scored for the Jets (35-31-12), who entered the game with a three-game winning streak and victories in five of their last six games to keep their playoff hopes alive. Jonathan Toews extended his point streak to three games with an assist, giving him four points over that stretch.
Connor Hellebuyck, who made his 20th start in the last 22 games, allowed five goals on 20 shots before being replaced for the third period. Eric Comrie allowed goals on his first two shots against and finished with one save.
With the victory, the Flyers complete a two-game series sweep of the Jets. Philadelphia earned a 5-2 win on home ice back in October.
Philadelphia earned a valuable two points to maintain its grip on third place in the Metropolitan Division and remain in the hunt for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Winnipeg is trying to secure the final wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference. With just three games remaining, its hopes for a spot in the postseason remain slim.
MONTREAL (AP) — Charlie Coyle scored twice as the desperate Columbus Blue Jackets rolled to a 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
Boone Jenner, Sean Monahan and Kirill Marchenko also scored while Jet Greaves stopped 20 shots for Columbus, which is fighting to make the playoffs for the first time since 2020. Adam Fantilli added two assists.
The Blue Jackets sit outside the playoff picture, two points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Cole Caufield — with his 51st of the season — and Josh Anderson scored for playoff-bound Montreal two nights after Caufield scored his 50th in an electric 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Jakub Dobes made 28 saves.
Defenseman Noah Dobson exited in the second period after blocking a Zach Werenski slap shot with his left hand. Canadiens rookie Ivan Demidov also went to the dressing room in the third when he was hit headfirst into the boards by Werenski, but he returned later in the period.
Montreal (104 points) fell from second to third in the Atlantic Division behind Tampa Bay (104 points), which holds the regulation-wins tiebreaker over the Canadiens. The Buffalo Sabres lead the division at 106 points with two regular-season games remaining for all three teams.
Up next
Blue Jackets: Host the Boston Bruins on Sunday.
Canadiens: Visit the New York Islanders on Sunday.
TORONTO (AP) — Eetu Luostarinen and Mackie Samoskevich had a goal and two assists each as the Florida Panthers cruised past the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-2 on Saturday night.
Tomas Nosek, with two goals, Cole Reinhardt and A.J. Greer, into the empty net to go along with an assist, provided the rest of the offense for Florida.
Daniil Tarasov made 17 saves for the Panthers, who snapped a four-game slide.
William Nylander replied with a pair of goals for Toronto, which got 19 stops from Joseph Woll in the club’s fifth straight loss.
Both poised to miss the playoffs, the Maple Leafs and Panthers met in the second round of last spring’s postseason, with Florida topping Toronto in seven games before going on to hoist the Stanley Cup for a second straight June.
The Panthers, who started play one spot above Saturday’s opponent at 26th overall in the NHL standings, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period before Nosek made it 3-0 early in the second.
Nylander scored on a power play midway through the period, and added another to make it 3-2 through 40 minutes. Samoskevich made it 4-2 in the third. Greer and Nosek iced it into the empty net.
Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin has played in the NHL since 2015 and has only played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs once, later that season.
The drought for both him and the Red Wings has extended into a 10th consecutive year, as they were officially eliminated from postseason contention after blowing yet another third-period lead, this time against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday evening.
The Devils, who are outside the playoff picture, responded with goals of their own each time the Red Wings took the lead and eventually scored the game-winner themselves, with Jesper Bratt finding the net late in the third period en route to a 5–3 victory.
Larkin, who registered his third-career hat trick in Detroit's previous game to help keep their playoff hopes alive, admitted that he's not in good spirits after their fate was sealed.
"We're down," Larkin said afterward. "I'm down, as down as I could be right now. "
Larkin and the Red Wings were tied for first overall in the Eastern Conference in mid-January, and appeared well on their way to comfortably attaining a postseason spot. However, just as they had in each of the last several campaigns, they unraveled in March and lost their playoff points cushion.
"We put ourselves in a great spot, a lot of good things," Larkin said. "We didn't do what we set out to do, to make the playoffs and continue to build this thing."
An ill-advised pinch by Larkin in the slot in search of an offensive chance proved costly when his Team USA Olympic teammate Jack Hughes got to the puck first, flipped it past him, and led a 2-on-1 rush with Jesper Bratt that resulted in the go-ahead goal late in the third period.
"They're a transition team; that fourth one is on me," Larkin said. "I'm covering for (Simon), pinch in there, and two of those guys jumped by. It's completely my responsibility to stay back and cover for the D."
When it came to blowing third-period leads and ultimately losing, the Red Wings did so five times this season - four of them coming after March 4, including against the Devils and against the Blue Jackets earlier in the week.
"It seems to be a trend of late, but like I said, there were a lot of good things this year," Larkin said of being unable to protect third-period leads. "You could really go back and look at all the points in the third periods, but it's hard to look at right now. I don't think it's going to be a determining factor moving forward."
Detroit's centennial season will come to a close in the coming days with road matchups against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers.
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They might not be mathematically eliminated, but unfortunately for the Winnipeg Jets, the team will come up short in their bid for the Stanley Cup Playoffs this spring.
Despite a decent push in the final quarter of the season, it was too little, too late in Manitoba's capital.
As the old saying goes, the Jets waited far too long to heat up, and in doing so, their postseason chances have slimmed down to next to nothing.
Photo by Danny Truong
In need of another win - and a miracle - to continue their push for the playoffs, the Jets came up short, well short, in their efforts for a postseason push on Saturday in a test against an Eastern Conference playoff hopeful in Philadelphia.
The penultimate contest from Canada Life Centre this season wasn't even close from the opening puck drop. The Flyers got off to a hot start and truly didn't cool down until they chased Connor Hellebuyck from the game and put up seven goals against a desperate Winnipeg team in need of both points.
A wild opening frame saw four goals - and all four came before the game was even nine minutes old.
It was Philadelphia that struck first, with recent entry-level contract signee Porter Martone finishing off a pretty passing play by Travis Konecny just 1:17 into the game.
But Haydn Fleury responded for Winnipeg five minutes later. He hammered home a Cole Koepke rebound on a play that saw Jonathan Toews pick up the secondary helper - his fourth points in the past three games.
But then, just a minute-and-a-half later, Matvei Michkov redirected a long-range wrist shot off Jacob Bryson and past Hellebuyck, restoring the Flyers' one-goal lead.
Just 25 seconds later, the visitors found another, with Sean Couturier putting home his 11th of the season, ripping it past the Jets' bewildered last line of defence for a 3-1 lead less than half a period into the game.
Both clubs settled down as the opening frame wore on, with power play chances granted to both team.
Philadelphia narrowly outshot the Jets 13-10 through 20 minutes, while taking a commanding 3-1 lead into the intermission.
The middle stanza saw the Flyers add to their lead, with local product Travis Sanheim earning his first career professional goal in his home province. A rousing cheer from his friends and family in attendance rang out as the puck found its way past Hellebuyck and into the Jets' net.
Noah Cates delivered the knockout punch, scoring a shorthanded goal with time ticking down on a Jets penalty late in the second period, handing Winnipeg a 5-1 deficit through 40 minutes of play.
Couturier got his second of the game 6:23 into the third period, making it 6-1 for the visitors, as he beat Eric Comrie on the Flyers' first shot of the period.
Then, with just six minutes remaining, the visitors got another courtesy of Nick Seeler on just Philly's second shot of the frame.
Hellebuyck allowed five goals on 20 shots before being yanked from the game, while Dan Vladar turned aside 28 pucks on the 29 Jets shots that found their way to the net.
Eric Comrie ended the night with one save on three shots in 20 minutes of work.
A loss wouldn't have hit quite as hard should there Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators have lost their respective games on Saturday, but, of course, that did not happen, extending the distance between the Jets and a possible postseason berth.
Next up for Winnipeg is the team's final road trip of a season - a two-game trek through Vegas and Utah in a back-to-back on Monday and Tuesday - before the Jets return home Thursday night for the season finale against the San Jose Sharks at 7:00 PM central.
At the start of the 2025-26 season, the Buffalo Sabres claimed goaltender Colten Ellis off waivers from the St. Louis Blues. This is after he had a 22-14-3 record, a .922 save percentage, and a 2.63 goals-against average in 42 AHL games for the Springfield Thunderbirds in 2024-25.
Now, with the 2025-26 season almost over, it is clear that Ellis has been a solid waiver addition for the Sabres. He has worked well as their No. 3 goaltender, and it is hard not to be satisfied with his play when noting that Buffalo picked him up for free.
In 15 games this season with the Sabres, Ellis has an 8-4-1 record, a .904 save percentage, and a 2.91 goals-against average. With numbers like these, he has been a solid depth goalie for the Sabres.
Ellis also just put together a fantastic performance in his most recent start on Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The 2019 third-round pick put together a 37-save shutout against Columbus. This was Ellis' first-career NHL shutout.
With all of this, it is clear that Ellis has been a nice pickup for the Sabres. While Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Alex Lyon have been a great tandem, Ellis has also done well when called upon.
With Kevin Lankinen named tonight's starting goaltender against the San Jose Sharks, the Vancouver Canucks have announced that goaltender Jiří Patera has been re-assigned to the AHL. During his most recent call-up, Patera did not end up playing in any games for Vancouver.
Patera was called up last week after Lankinen was ruled out of his team's matchup against the Utah Mammoth on home-ice. In his lone NHL start this season, Patera faced 40 shots but allowed seven goals against the Florida Panthers. In Abbotsford, he has registered a record of 11-14-4 with a 2.72 GAA and .907 SV%.
With Lankinen unavailable, Nikita Tolopilo has started in Vancouver's past four games. Despite some strong games, he has not won a game since March 12 against the Nashville Predators. Given that Lankinen is expected to start tonight, Tolopilo is likely to start in tomorrow's game against the Anaheim Ducks.
This is not the only roster move the Canucks have made today, as Vancouver called defenceman Kirill Kudryavtsev up from the AHL earlier this morning.
Vancouver will play the Sharks tonight at 7:00 pm PT, and the Ducks at 5:00 pm PT tomorrow. As of writing, Abbotsford is currently up 2-0 against the Calgary Wranglers, with their next game taking place next Saturday against the Ontario Reign.
Jan 19, 2026; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks goalie Jiri Patera (30) skates in warm up prior to a game against the New York Islanders at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
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The Detroit Red Wings came into their centennial season with understandable expectations, and by late January, they appeared well on their way to comfortably earning a postseason spot.
However, as has been the case in recent years, they unraveled when the calendar flipped to March, lost their points cushion, and struggled to close out games.
They came into Saturday evening's contest against the New Jersey Devils with no choice but to earn two points if they wanted to keep their faint playoff hopes mathematically alive.
But following yet another third-period collapse, their fate was officially sealed.
Devils forward Jesper Bratt scored his second goal of the game with 4:34 left in the third period, breaking a 3-3 tie en route to a 5-3 win at Little Caesars Arena.
Once again, the Red Wings were beaten by a team that was outside of the playoff picture and were unable to protect a third-period lead. Almost equally as concerning, the Devils held a 25-15 shots advantage over the game's final 40 minutes.
Detroit struck first in the opening period, as defenseman Justin Faulk found the back of the net. But just 59 seconds later, Devils forward Jack Hughes tied the contest on what was New Jersey's first shot of the game.
While David Perron scored just past the midway point of the second period, the Devils responded soon afterward thanks to a shot from just inside the blue line from Bratt, the first of his two goals; former Red Wings defenseman Dennis Cholowski picked up an assist.
Rookie Emmitt Finnie gave the Red Wings the lead with 13 minutes left in the third period, banging home a loose puck with a backhander past goaltender Jake Allen and giving the sellout crowd reason for enthusiasm.
However, New Jersey once again knotted the score after Cody Glass picked up a garbage goal in front of the net. Hughes then broke in on a 2-on-1 rush with Bratt, who slipped the puck past a diving John Gibson for what proved to be the game-winner.
The Red Wings pulled Gibson for an extra attacker, but weren't able to find the equalizer. The Devils secured the victory thanks to an empty-net tally from Dawson Mercer.
Gibson finished with 28 saves, while Allen made 25 saves.
While the Red Wings still have two games remaining on their regular-season schedule, their hopes of ending their postseason drought came to a close.
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The Chicago Blackhawks had their last weekend game of the season on Saturday afternoon, as they welcomed the St. Louis Blues to the United Center.
The Blues woke up with a very small chance to make the playoffs, but a Los Angeles Kings win earlier in the day eliminated St. Louis.
This game had a twist at the start. For one, Arvid Soderblom started the game, which is likely his last of the season. They also had Ethan Del Mastro scratched, replaced on defense by Sam Lafferty, who is a forward.
The ugly finish to the season continued for the Blackhawks, as the Blues skated out of town with a 5-3 victory. Jimmy Snuggerud scored to make it 1-0 Blues at 9:26 of the first period, but Ryan Greene responded to tie the game at 15:07.
Just 3:04 into the second period, Ilya Mikheyev gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead, which gave Sacha Boisvert his first career NHL assist, but Alexey Toropchenko tied it up at 4:10. From there, the Blues scored three more to make it 5-2.
In the third period, Ilya Mikheyev added his second goal of the game at 13:35. This one was a nice setup by Tyler Bertuzzi. Anton Frondell also earned an assist on the play, giving him 9 points in his first 10 NHL games.
That 5-3 score stood as the final despite an effort by Chicago to tie it up with Arvid Soderblom on the bench. The loss is their third straight in regulation.
To make matters worse, Frank Nazar left the game with an injury. A puck hit him in the face, and he immediately went to the locker room. Of course, Nazar already missed a lot of time during the winter with a jaw injury.
After the game, head coach Jeff Blashill confirmed that Nazar is day-to-day. There are only two games left in the season, so that could mean anything, but he did confirm that he thinks he avoided the "worst case scenario", which would be him having a broken jaw again.
Nazar is not the only injured player. Andrew Mangiapane left the game after crashing into the net, and Ethan Del Mastro ended up not even dressing due to injury. Both of them are also day-to-day.
This game had signs of a young team that is thin on bodies to play, frustrated, and out of gas. Two games are remaining to try and find a spark in front of their home fans before an incredibly important off-season.
The Chicago Blackhawks will be back in action on Monday night. They have their second-to-last match of the season, a home game against the Buffalo Sabres.
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Cam Fowler had just scored a goal on Saturday afternoon to give the St. Louis Blues a 4-2 lead against the Chicago Blackhawks late in the second period.
It was a capper to a solid period for the visitors, but what they didn't know at the time was seconds before, their season was made official.
Despite the Blues' 5-3 win over the Blackhawks at United Center in Chicago, they were officially eliminated from postseason contention when the Los Angeles Kings downed the Edmonton Oilers 1-0.
The Blues (34-33-12) are seven points behind L.A. but with just three games left in their season, they can max out with only six points. It was more of a formality for a team that was trying to overcome at one point, a 14-point deficit that closed within three as late as April 5 but unlike last season when the Blues used a franchise-record 12-game winning streak to get in with 96 points as the second wild card out of the Western Conference, there were too many teams and too much a deficit to pull this off for a second straight season.
It almost felt at the time when the Blues fell 5-4 to the San Jose Sharks on March 30 when they lost that game with 22 seconds remaining in regulation, then fell to the Kings 2-1 in overtime on April 1, coming up with only one of a possible four points in those two games, that was like getting kicked into the coffin and waiting for someone to put the final nail down, which came Saturday.
The silver lining to this also is the Blues getting some good out-of-town news when the Detroit Red Wings fell to the New Jersey Devils, eliminating the Red Wings from playoff contention in the Eastern Conference.
As you may remember, the Blues hold the Red Wings' first-round pick from the trade that sent Justin Faulk to Motown. And depending on how the lottery plays out, the Blues can look mighty good having two potential higher-end picks on the positive end. But we'll know about how all that plays out when the NHL holds its draft lottery on May 5.
As for the game Saturday, 13 players got onto the scoresheet as the Blues split the season series with the Blackhawks (28-38-14) with five different goal scorers (Jimmy Snuggerud, Alexey Toropchenko, Jordan Kyrou, Cam Fowler and Dalibor Dvorsky) while Jonatan Berggren and Tyler Tucker each picked up two assists.
Snuggerud's 18th of the season put the Blues ahead 1-0 at 9:26 of the first period:
Down a goal early in the second, Toropchenko's first in 21 games (Feb. 4 at Dallas) tied the game 2-2 at 4:10 of the second period on this backhand breakaway:
Kyrou put the Blues ahead for good with the lone power play the Blues had in the game with this top shelf shot from the left circle at 12:06 of the second for a 3-2 lead:
Joel Hofer made 32 saves in the game for his 22nd win of the season, and with an assist, Dylan Holloway now has 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists) in 22 games since the Olympic break.
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DALLAS (AP) — Jason Robertson scored a power-play goal midway through the third period and added an empty-netter in the final minute while Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for his fourth shutout of the season as the Dallas Stars beat the New York Rangers 2-0 on Saturday and clinched second place in the Central Division.
The Stars were already assured of facing the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the NHL playoffs. They secured the position late in the third period when the Wild lost in regulation to the Nashville Predators.
Robertson collected a rebound of Matt Duchene’s shot and flipped a backhander into the far side to beat Igor Shesterkin with 7:11 left to play. Robertson has 44 goals, two short of his career high scored three years ago.
Duchene assisted on both goals.
It was Oettinger’s 34th win of the season. He was on the U.S. men’s team that Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan led to the gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Shesterkin stopped 17 shots while absorbing only his second regulation loss in 10 career decisions against Dallas.
The Rangers began a season-ending three-game road trip. They’re last in the Eastern Conference and will miss the playoffs for a second straight season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 2024.
The Rangers, with the second-best road power play in the league, went 0 for 5 with the man advantage. That included 1:02 of 5-on-3 late in the second period.
Up next
Both teams will play on the road Monday, the Rangers at Florida and the Stars at Toronto.
DALLAS (AP) — Jason Robertson scored a power-play goal midway through the third period and added an empty-netter in the final minute while Jake Oettinger made 22 saves for his fourth shutout of the season as the Dallas Stars beat the New York Rangers 2-0 on Saturday and clinched second place in the Central Division.
The Stars were already assured of facing the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the NHL playoffs. They secured the position late in the third period when the Wild lost in regulation to the Nashville Predators.
Robertson collected a rebound of Matt Duchene’s shot and flipped a backhander into the far side to beat Igor Shesterkin with 7:11 left to play. Robertson has 44 goals, two short of his career high scored three years ago.
Duchene assisted on both goals.
It was Oettinger’s 34th win of the season. He was on the U.S. men's team that Rangers coach Mike Sullivan led to the gold medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Shesterkin stopped 17 shots while absorbing only his second regulation loss in 10 career decisions against Dallas.
The Rangers began a season-ending three-game road trip. They’re last in the Eastern Conference and will miss the playoffs for a second straight season after winning the Presidents’ Trophy in 2024.
The Rangers, with the second-best road power play in the league, went 0 for 5 with the man advantage. That included 1:02 of 5-on-3 late in the second period.
Up next
Both teams will play on the road Monday, the Rangers at Florida and the Stars at Toronto.
DETROIT (AP) — Jesper Bratt scored his second goal with 3:34 left in the third period, helping the New Jersey Devils eliminate the Detroit Red Wings from the NHL playoff picture with a 5-3 win on Saturday.
Detroit extended the league’s longest active postseason drought, dating to the 2016 season when the franchise earned a berth for the 25th consecutive season in what was a remarkable run that included four Stanley Cup championships.
The Red Wings were in a playoff position for 148 days of the season, according to Sportradar, to raise expectations higher than they’ve been since the hockey-crazed state has experienced the playoffs a long time ago.
They went ahead against New Jersey in the first, second and third periods — and lost every lead.
On an odd-man rush, Bratt scored the go-ahead goal from the left circle off a perfect pass from Jack Hughes in the right circle with John Gibson flailing around in an attempt to stop the puck. Dawson Mercer added an empty-net goal with a minute left.
Gibson had 27 saves for the Red Wings and Jake Allen stopped 25 shots for the Devils.
Detroit’s Justin Faulk broke a scoreless tie midway through the opening period.
Olympic hero Hughes, playing about 25 miles from where he skated in high school at USA Hockey Arena, scored his 27th goal of the season a minute later.
The Red Wings went back ahead on David Perron’s goal with 8:01 left in the second period, but failed to keep the lead again. Bratt scored a game-tying goal, giving him at least 21 for a fifth straight season.
Emmitt Finnie scored a tiebreaking goal seven minutes into the third to put the Red Wings ahead again, but Cody Glass pulled the Devils into another tie midway through the period.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - MAY 17: Sam Reinhart #13 of the Florida Panthers skates against Charlie McAvoy #73 of the Boston Bruins in Game Six of the Second Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the TD Garden on May 17, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
It’s not exactly the way you want to clinch a playoff spot, but you’ll take it!
After throwing away a point or two via a late regulation loss to Tampa Saturday afternoon, the Bruins officially clinched a playoff spot via a Detroit Red Wings loss later in the day.
The Red Wings, playing at home, needed to either beat New Jersey or lose beyond regulation to stay in playoff contention.
They did neither, allowing three New Jersey goals in the third period en route to a 5-3 loss that ended their slim playoff hopes.
While the B’s are officially in, there’s still plenty to be decided in the last few days of the regular season.
The Bruins and Ottawa will go back-and-forth over the first and second wild card spot, with Ottawa currently in WC1 via the regulation wins tiebreaker.
Both the Bruins and Senators have two games left:
Bruins: at Columbus, vs. New Jersey
Ottawa: at New Jersey, vs. Toronto
The Bruins will be playing out their string Sunday and Tuesday, while the Senators will be playing tomorrow and Wednesday.
There’s also the not-so-small matter of who the B’s (and Senators) will be playing in the first round.
It’s likely that the second wild card team will be facing the Carolina Hurricanes, though there’s a chance they could flop in their last three games and let an Atlantic team catch them.
However, the second wild card is almost certainly beginning the playoffs in Raleigh, while WC1 will be facing a to-be-determined Atlantic team.
Interestingly enough, that could be any one of Buffalo, Montreal, or Tampa Bay at this point, with the three teams separated by two points (prior to Montreal’s Saturday night game, at least).
I don’t think there’s an easy out in the Atlantic, but I’d prefer to play one of those three teams instead of Carolina.
Regardless, the Bruins are officially back in the playoffs after a season away.
Their last postseason game was on May 17, 2o24, a 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers at TD Garden.
Given where the Bruins were predicted to finish this season, making the playoffs is no small feat.
The Kings' Anze Kopitar waves to fans after his final regular-season home game, a 1-0 win over Oilers on Saturday. (Scott Strazzante/For The Times)
When the final horn sounded Saturday on the Kings’ 1-0 matinee win over the Edmonton Oilers, Anze Kopitar made his way to center ice, a microphone in his hand and his heart in pieces.
"Thank you very much," he said to the fans, his voice cracking. "Thank you for being here."
Kopitar then held his hands in front of him and folded his fingers into the shape of a heart before skating away — not quite into the sunset, but headed in that direction.
Kopitar announced in September that this season would be his last, so unless the Kings make the playoffs — a distinct possibility after the team's fourth win a row and fifth in six games, its best streak of the season — Saturday marked the final home appearance of a brilliant 20-year career spent entirely in Los Angeles.
The Kings' Anze Kopitar vies for position in front of the Oilers' Darnell Nurse during the second period on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena. (Scott Strazzante/For The Times)
And the announced crowd of 18,145 at Crypto.com Arena made sure he knew that parting is such sweet sorrow, standing and cheering long after the game had ended.
“Eventually it was going to happen,” Kopitar, 38, reflected before the game. “Whether it was this year or two years from now, there was going to be a last day. And I’m very OK with my decision.”
Kopitar will leave having written his name all over the Kings’ record book. He’s the all-time franchise leader in points (1,314), assists (862), game-winning goals (79) and games played (1,518). He ranks third in goals (452) and power-play goals (129).
And most importantly, he played a starring role on the Kings’ only two Stanley Cup championships, leading both the 2011-12 and 2013-14 teams in goals, assists and points.
“Over 700 people have put the Kings’ uniform on,” said Daryl Evans, who was one of the 700 before retiring to become a broadcaster with the team. "He stands at the top of the mountain as one of the greatest — if not the greatest — to do so. He’s a great hockey player, as we can all see. But he’s a better person off the ice.”
It’s that second part, Evans said, that will make Kopitar difficult to replace.
“Records are made to be beaten. But the intangibles, the things that he did as the team’s captain, the leadership that he provided, the type of a player he was, very unselfish,” Evans said. “He’s one of those guys who’s a special player.”
The Kings got the only goal they would need Saturday 7:34 into the first period when Artemi Panarin stripped Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard of the puck at the Kings’ blue line and took off the other way, skating in alone on Oilers’ goalie Connor Ingram, then beating him on a wrist shot from between the circles.
Kings players react as Anze Kopitar speaks to fans after his final regular-season home game, a 1-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. (Scott Strazzante/For The Times)
The goal was Panarin’s ninth in 23 games since joining the Kings just ahead of the Olympic break. Edmonton nearly pulled that back midway through the period when Curtis Lazar tipped the puck by Kings’ goalie Anton Forsberg, only to have defenseman Cody Ceci dive through the crease and swipe it away with a desperate one-handed wave of his stick.
Forsberg was brilliant the rest of the way, stopping 27 shots to post his 11th career shutout and win his season-best fourth game in a row, preserving the Kings' one-point lead over Nashville in the race for the Western Conference's final wild-card playoff berth.
The son of a coach, Kopitar was born in the former Yugoslavia, in the mining town of Jesenice near the border with Austria, an area that became part of Slovenia when that country declared independence just before Kopitar’s fourth birthday.
At 16, he led the new country’s first-tier professional league in scoring, so he moved to Sweden in search of a challenge — and led that country’s top junior league with 49 points in 30 games. That drew the attention of the Kings, who took Kopitar with the 11th overall pick in the 2005 draft.
Fourteen months later he became the first Slovenian to play in the NHL, making his debut as a teenager and scoring two goals against the Ducks. He never looked back — nor looked to play elsewhere, twice signing contract extensions with the Kings rather than test the free-agent market. (Not that he needed to test the free-agent market since he made more than $140 million in his two decades with the Kings, becoming the best-paid player in team history.)
“I've always felt extremely comfortable in L.A.,” said Kopitar, whose two children were born here. “The organization has been world-class since I got here, so I had no desire to go anywhere else.”
Anze Kopitar celebrates with the Stanley Cup after the Kings' win over the New Jersey Devils in 2012. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
As a result only six players in league history have played more games with a single organization, making Kopitar’s name synonymous with the franchise.
“The greatest to play for the Kings,” said Luc Robitaille, the franchise leader in goals (557) as a player and now the team’s president. “What’s he meant to this franchise — you know this franchise never won and he came along and we won two [Stanley Cups]. So he deserves all the credits and everything that’s coming his way.”
He’s also among the last of a dying breed: a two-way center who stood out on both ends of the ice, but was also gentlemanly enough to win the Lady Byng trophy three times. Only one player has won the NHL’s top sportsmanship award more often this century.
“Every coach would love to have him because he never cheats the game,” Evans said of Kopitar, who this month was also nominated for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which recognizes the player who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey.”
“He’s got a lot of pride and he doesn’t want to let his teammates down,” Evans said. “He’s been a student of the game from Day 1. He plays the game the right way. If you could tell a player ‘watch somebody,’ there’s a guy you want to watch.”
Kopitar’s numbers have declined this season, owing partly to a pair of lower-body injuries that caused him to miss significant time in both October and January. That’s left him on pace to finish with fewer than 16 goals in a full season for just the third time while his 24assists and 36 points are career lows.
But he has the best plus/minus number on the team and he’s winning a career-best 57.7%of his faceoffs, including four crucial draws deep in the Kings' end in the final minute Saturday.
“It’s been, obviously, an up-and-down season,” he said. “Some good, some bad, some ugly.”
Kopitar admits the goodbyes have been emotional at times. On his final visit to Madison Square Garden last month, for example, he and former teammate Jonathan Quick exchanged several hugs after the game.
“I’m enjoying it,” he added. “I’m not sad about it. I guess I’m staying in the moment and enjoying the moment.”
The Kings' Anze Kopitar tries to flip a shot past Edmonton goaltender Connor Ingram Saturday at Crypto.com Arena. (Scott Strazzante/For The Times)
The Kings can extend Kopitar’s farewell tour by at least a couple of weeks by making the playoffs, a task that's looking much more likely than it did a week ago. After Saturday's win the Kings not only lead Nashville in the wild-card race, holding a game in hand over the Predators, but they are just two points out of third place in the Pacific Division standings.
"He hopes he's going to play here again," Kings coach D.J. Smith said of Kopitar's possible postseason encore.
Just where and when the team might open the postseason — if, indeed, it qualifies — is up in the air since the Kings could finish anywhere from first to fifth in the division, leaving them with more than a dozen possible playoff scenarios. So when the team leaves for its final three-game trip of the season Sunday, the players have been told to pack for 10 days.
Either way Kopitar isn’t changing his mind; when the Kings’ season ends — whenever that is — his career will end as well. So will his time in Los Angeles since Kopitar is selling his Manhattan Beach home and moving back to Slovenia to accept a new role as a full-time father.
“I’m going to be a dad,” he said. “I’m going to just relax and see how long it takes to get bored and then we’ll figure it out from there. Of course I’m going to miss this place. But it was a family decision, obviously, to move.
“As much as this place is super nice and the community was great to us, it’s time to slow down the tempo a little bit and enjoy life. But I’ll make it back here for sure.”
