Anze Kopitar Named West Division Player of the Month

Throughout the 2020-21 season, the NHL is celebrating the remarkable efforts of the off-ice stars who make it possible for us to play our games amid a pandemic by honoring frontline healthcare heroes from the regions represented by the League's weekly and monthly "Stars."
Anze Kopitar has been named as the Honda West Division's Player of the Month for January, with Dr. O'Gorman being named the frontline healthcare hero.

Dr. O'Gorman is the chief of laboratory medicine as well as the director of the Clinical Lab and the Diagnostic Immunology and Flow Cytometry Laboratory at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). He oversees the development and operations of the more than 2 million laboratory tests performed annually at CHLA and leads the laboratory and pathology teams, which have been at the forefront of CHLA's COVID testing and research efforts.
Dr. O'Gorman's research interests include the discovery of biomarkers related to the immunopathogenesis of immune system-related disorders and the development of diagnostic laboratory tests for the latter. He has written more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and several book chapters, lectured across the globe, and currently serves as the chair of the Duke Vaccine Institute's Scientific Advisory Board.

Kopitar's impressive and point-filled month started from the get-go with a two assist night to start the season. The captain then continued that trend with four more multi-point games in the season's first month. Kopitar ranked fourth in the NHL with 11 assists and seventh with 12 points (1-11-12) in eight contests to lead the Kings to a 3-3-2 month (8 points).
He produced five multi-point performances, highlighted by 1-2-3 (including his 54th career game-winning goal) on Jan. 24 at STL. Kopitar, who shared first place in the League with seven power-play assists, also placed second by taking 38.5 percent of Los Angeles' total face-offs (176-of-457), ranking eighth overall with 96 wins.

The 33-year-old Jesenice, Slovenia, native is 38 points shy of becoming the 91st player in NHL history to reach the 1,000-point milestone (334-628-962 in 1,081 GP) as well as the fourth to do so with the Kings, after Marcel Dionne (550-757-1,307), Luc Robitaille (557 597-1,154) and Dave Taylor (431-638-1,069).
Kopitar's long and successful career thus far has also now started to come with career milestones and record breaking accomplishments. On January 24th, Kopitar officially cracked the top 100 point leaders of all-time in NHL history when he tallied a goal and two assists in the Kings 5-3 win over the Blues.

Kopitar and the Kings begin their February schedule with the Freeway Faceoff when they host Anaheim Ducks on February 2nd at 7:00 PM at STAPLES Center.