Showing no sign of slowing
Kopitar scores twice and Quick continues strong start in L.A.’s convincing road win.
KINGS 4, SAN JOSE 1
SAN JOSE — The skeleton didn’t spring out of the jack-in-the-box this time.
The Kings extracted voodoo here with some topline punch, coupled with friendly bounces in an about-face from past debacles in this building.
Anze Kopitar could do no wrong in scoring two goals. Dustin Brown skated with verve. It came together in a 4-1 win Saturday against the San Jose Sharks. Kopitar and Brown scored their first goals of the season and the Kings moved to 2-0 by sending the Sharks to an 0-2 start that triggered occasional boos from the announced 17,562 fans at SAP Center.
A year ago, Jonathan Quick suffered a groin injury in the season opener here that spelled doom for the Kings. In his first appearance in San Jose since that night, Quick stopped 24 shots, and he has allowed one goal in two games.
At the other end stood former teammate Martin Jones, and he endured his own nightmare when he was pulled after four goals allowed on 29 shots.
The fourth was credited to Nick Shore, although it was an own goal by Melker Karlsson because of miscommunication between Jones and his teammates. The luck of the rivals unfolded that way. Kopitar’s second goal was a double deflection that found the net, fewer than two minutes before Shore’s gifted goal in the second period.
Kopitar used a more traditional method when he beat Jones with a wrist shot in transition with eight seconds left in the first period for a 2-1 lead. The rush began because San Jose defenseman Brent Burns tried to clear the puck and Jake Muzzin intercepted it.
The Kings didn’t relinquish that lead.
Their offense saw more open ice. Their defensemen jumped into the play as if shackles were taken off. The Kings took 17 shots in the first period, and they could have scored more than two goals in that period if not for clutch penalty killing by San Jose.
Brown sent a shot from the lower right circle past Jones’ shoulder just more than five minutes into the game and later had a shorthanded breakaway.
The first matchup this season was angled as two rival franchises with strong veteran bases trying to keep their window for success open. Drew Doughty put his spin on it before the game.
“Their [base] is a little older than ours, I’d say, so their window’s closing faster than ours is closing,” Doughty said of San Jose. “But Joe Thornton is [38] and he’s still the best player on their team. It’s pretty special when you can be the best player on your team here for all 20 years here in the league. You know you’re a special player when you can do that.”