Kopitar scores five points, Kings defeat Golden Knights in season opener

LOS ANGELES -- Anze Kopitar had three goals and two assists to set a Los Angeles Kings record for points in a season opener in a 6-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Staples Center on Thursday.

"When your captain can come out and play that type of game tonight, it sets the tone for everybody," Kings coach Todd McLellan said.
Kopitar is the 12th NHL player since 1967 with at least five points in a season opener. Kevin Stevens holds the record in the expansion era (since 1967-68) with six points (two goals, four assists) for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 5, 1990.
Kopitar completed his hat trick at 15:06 of the third period, scoring on a backhand on a 2-on-1 rush from Viktor Arvidsson in his Kings debut to make it 6-1. It was the third hat trick in a season opener in Kings history, with Kopitar joining Luc Robitaille (Oct. 6, 1988) and Jari Kurri (Oct. 4, 1991).
"You just try to stay in the moment, really," Kopitar said. "You don't think about that too much. I mean, just play. Like I said, it's first game of the season, so first and foremost, we wanted to get off to a good start and get the two points in the bank and just kind of go from there."
Drew Doughty had a power-play goal and three assists, Phillip Danault scored in his Kings debut, and Vladimir Tkachev had two assists in his NHL debut. Cal Petersen made 23 saves for Los Angeles.

Robin Lehner allowed four goals on 31 shots through two periods before being replaced by Laurent Brossoit, who made 14 saves in the third period for Vegas (1-1-0).
Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said Lehner was not pulled because of his play.
"Actually, I thought he might have been our best player through two periods," DeBoer said.
Doughty set the Kings record for points in a season opener by a defenseman when he scored on a slap shot at 1:47 of the third period. It was his second NHL four-point game. Doughty had four assists against the San Jose Sharks on Jan. 4, 2010.
Danault put the Kings up 3-1 at 3:05 of the second, tipping in Doughty's shot from the blue line. It was the 200th NHL point (56 goals, 144 assists) in 393 games for Danault, who signed a six-year, $33 million contract on July 28.
Kopitar extended the lead to 4-1 at 10:13, scoring off a pass from Adrian Kempe on a 2-on-1 rush.

Los Angeles led 2-1 after the first period. Dustin Brown followed up his own shot off Doughty's rebound to tie it up 1-1 at 13:15, and Kopitar made it 2-1 at 19:17 on the power play.
"'Brownie' set the tone for us early, made some big hits, scored a big goal for us," Doughty said. "And then kind of the rest of the team followed him, and then obviously 'Kopi' stepped up with the hat trick, and then I got in there with a goal and a couple of assists.
"But the leadership group, I know we're getting older, whatever you want to say, but we're still driven. We want to win again. That's all we care about and we go out there and lead by example and play our butts off, and that's what we're going to do every night."
Shea Theodore put the Golden Knights up 1-0 at 9:00 when his shot from the right point trickled past Petersen.
Chandler Stephenson scored at 15:43 of the third period for the 6-2 final.
"They were faster than us," Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith said. "We were too slow to close and giving them too much time. When you do that it doesn't matter who you're playing, you are going to make them look good in this league. They were the much better team tonight.
NOTES: Golden Knights forward Mark Stone did not return after sustaining a lower-body injury in the second period. DeBoer did not have an update but said Stone had been dealing with a lingering injury coming into the game. … It was Kopitar's second NHL five-point game; he had a goal and four assists against the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 18, 2014. … Golden Knights forwards Jake Leschyshyn and Jonas Rondbjerg each made his NHL debut. Leschyshyn had one shot and won five of 11 face-offs in 11:17. Rondbjerg played 10:30.