Kings beat Avalanche 4-1 as Kopitar breaks club record for assists
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Quinton Byfield scored twice, Anze Kopitar became the franchise leader in assists, and the Los Angeles Kings beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 on Sunday.
Trevor Moore and Drew Doughty also scored, Adrian Kempe had two assists, and the Kings got back on track after their five-game winning streak was snapped by Washington on Wednesday. Cam Talbot made 20 saves.
Josh Manson scored and Alexandar Georgiev finished with 34 saves for the Avalanche. Star defenseman Cale Makar did not play because of a lower body injury.
After tying it up at 1 midway through the second period, Byfield put the Kings ahead with 6:34 remaining in the third with his fourth goal in six games.
Kopitar had the secondary assist, his 758th for the Kings and breaking a tie with Marcel Dionne for the club record.
Kopitar was recognized during the next break in play, giving a wave and putting his hand over his heart to thank the fans for their standing ovation. Moore and Doughty then scored to add the finishing touches on a celebratory night.
The Avalanche went up 1-0 midway through the first period on Manson’s first goal of the season, which was set up by Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon.
Rantanen got his sixth assist during a five-game streak, and MacKinnon picked up his 11th point in eight games.
Colorado clearly missed Makar, who did not play the final 2:57 of the third period and overtime of a 4-3 shootout loss at Anaheim on Saturday night. Makar leads the NHL with 27 assists, and his 34 points is tied with Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes for most by a defenseman.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said before the game he did not know whether the injury would force Makar to miss more than the one outing against the Kings.
UP NEXT
Avalanche: Host Anaheim on Tuesday night.
Kings: At Columbus on Tuesday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL