Anze Kopitar scored 4 goals while Adrian Kempe had the shootout winner as the Los Angeles Kings outlasted the Winnipeg Jets 6-5 Tuesday night at the Canada Life Centre.
The Jets' Josh Morrissey had a 4-point night for Winnipeg, evidenced early on by his 2 goals in the 1st period at 15:52 and 17:35 for his 12th and 13th goals of the season. The Jets would hold that 2-0 lead heading to the 2nd period.
Kopitar didn't need long to get the Kings on the board, needing a mere 26 seconds for his 21st goal of the season on the power play to cut the Jets' lead in half. Kyle Connor restored a 2-goal lead for Winnipeg at 6:08 (27) before Kopitar tied things at 3 by finishing his hat trick midway through the 2nd period, scoring back-to-back at 9:14 (22) and 10:43 (23). The Jets would have the last laugh, scoring their own pair of goals by way of Kevin Stenlund's back-to-back tallies, the 2nd of which was shorthanded, to give Winnipeg a 5-3 lead heading to period 3.
Starting period 3, Kopitar logged his 4th of the game at 1:26 for his 24th of 2022-23 to put the Kings back within 1. They would tie things up with less than 5 minutes left in regulation by way of Gabriel Vilardi (19) at 15:54.
In the shootout, the Jets' Mark Scheifele missed the first attempt before Vilardi rang one off the crossbar for the Kings' attempt in the 1st round. Round 2 started with the Jets' Kyle Connor being stopped by Kings netminder Phoenix Copley. Kempe then gave the Kings the lead by zipping it past Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck. Copley then stopped Blake Wheeler for the LA win in the 1st half of Round 3.
The Kings improve to 34-20-8 and reclaim 1st in the Pacific Division due to Vegas losing 2 straight. Their next game is a faceoff with Montreal on March 2nd at 10:30 pm. Meanwhile, Winnipeg drops to 35-24-2 and 4th in the Central Division with their 4th straight loss last night. Their next game is a trip to Edmonton on March 3rd at 9 pm.
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