New York. Exciting things happened mainly off the ice in the NHL last night, but Anze Kopitar showed there’s more to the action than the threes.
He scored no less than four goals in a match in Winnipeg that was decided by Adrian Kempe in a penalty shootout.
— and he could have scored six goals, says coach Todd McClellan after the 6-5 win.
Sometimes, older is still older, even in an increasingly youth-obsessed NHL.
And so 35-year-old Slovenian Anze Kopitar completed a hat-trick on the Winnipeg night – and then also scored a fourth. Just like fellow series star Adrian Kempe a few weeks ago.
His hands were hot tonight. Every shot he fired was dangerous. Coach Todd McClellan says he can score six goals very well.
As usual, the star rep center itself keeps a low profile.
Of course I’m glad to be able to contribute in this way, but mostly I’m glad that as a team we showed such character and came back from being frustrated all the time.
Yes, that was the strange thing. Despite the Kings scoring one goal after another, the Jets gained a continual advantage in the minutes and it looked for a while that Swede Kevin Stenlund would steal the show from Kopitar. Just as he scored a hat-trick, Stenlund responded with two quick goals and gave the home team a 5-3 lead.
But the visitors fell into third place and then Adrian Kempe decided in a penalty shootout that ended the night.
– If there’s one thing we know we can do, it’s score goals, notes McClellan.
Alex Adler and Carl Grundstrom played up to every Kopitar goal.
