Kopitar\u2019s push is clearly on.<\/p>\n
He has five points (two goals, three assists) in the past six games. He\u2019s clicking on a line with Adrian Kempe<\/a>\u00a0and the newest Kings impact forward, Artemi Panarin<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s the leader of this group and he\u2019s played really well,\u201d Kings interim coach D.J. Smith said. \u201cHe continues to push. Obviously, we have a goal of continuing to push and win games here and give ourselves a chance to get into the playoffs, and he\u2019s been a big reason.\u201d<\/p>\n Kopitar is doing it in his 20th and what will be his last NHL season.<\/p>\n He announced on Sept. 18 that he was going to retire at the end of this season. It\u2019s not because he can\u2019t play anymore, longtime teammate Drew Doughty<\/a>\u00a0said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you talk to him he\u2019ll tell you he can still go, it\u2019s just all the off-ice work that goes into it in the summer,\u201d Doughty said. \u201cWorking out five days a week, starting to get back in shape when you\u2019re practicing and all the injuries we have throughout the season, getting treatment, coming in here three hours before practice just to get ready for practice, you know what I mean? That\u2019s the stuff that he doesn\u2019t want to deal with anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n So this season is it for Kopitar, who knew when he made his announcement during training camp that he was 56 games away from becoming the ninth player in NHL history to reach 1,500 games played with one franchise and that he needed 30 points to break Dionne\u2019s record.<\/p>\n Simple, right?<\/p>\n Kopitar has been one of the most durable superstars of his generation, missing 32 games in his first 19 seasons. Before this season, the longest stretch of games he missed was 10 in his rookie season from March 1-18, 2007.<\/p>\n Even in his worst statistical season (in an 82-game season) he still managed 52 points (2016-17).<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s 30 points I\u2019ve got to get, and in the previous 19 years it hasn\u2019t been really a problem to get to 30,\u201d Kopitar said.<\/p>\n Well, it has been everything but simple this season.<\/p>\n Kopitar got to 1,500 games played against the Islanders at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on March 5, later than he thought because he had two stints out of the lineup: four games from Oct. 16-23 and 11 games from Jan. 7-29.<\/p>\n His hot streak in March has pushed him up to 28 points (eight goals, 20 assists), by far the lowest of his career.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a very up and down year this year,\u201d\u00a0Kopitar said. \u201cI guess in normal circumstances (the record) would have been behind me already, but we\u2019re here now, two away.\u201d<\/p>\n Two away from history, and, to Doughty, statistical evidence to a fact everyone who has followed the Kings and Kopitar and the NHL for the past 20 years should already know.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is already the best King of all time, especially at forward,\u201d Doughty said. \u201cThis solidifies it if he can break this record. In my mind he already is, but that\u2019s what it does.\u201d<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t feel like an if anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s chasing it down and everyone is rallying with him and excited for him and his family,\u201d said Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson<\/a>, who had the primary assist on Kopitar\u2019s goal Friday. \u201cHe\u2019s getting the recognition that he deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s just not something Kopitar himself wants to think about yet, so he hasn\u2019t dug deep into the particulars behind the record other than knowing the point total.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, because you\u2019re in the zone and I don\u2019t want to (look at) it really until it\u2019s time for it,\u201d Kopitar said.<\/p>\n That means he doesn\u2019t know\u00a0Dionne has held the record since Feb. 7, 1981, when he scored two goals in a 4-4 tie against the Washington Capitals to give him 661 points with the Kings, breaking a record previously held by Butch Goring (659 points).<\/p>\n He likely doesn\u2019t know that he\u2019ll become the 10th active player to lead a franchise in points, but of the other nine, only Sidney Crosby<\/a>\u00a0of the Pittsburgh Penguins (1,746 points) and Alex Ovechkin<\/a>\u00a0of the Washington Capitals (1,674) have more points than Kopitar.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of the stuff that has been happening the last couple of years is special, but in my mind right now you can\u2019t let it slip,\u201d Kopitar said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to look ahead and try to make the playoffs. It\u2019s just the way I like it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kopitar\u2019s push is clearly on. He has five points (two goals, three assists) in the past six games.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-539546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539546\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}