Kopitar sets Kings assist record in win against Avalanche

LOS ANGELES -- Anze Kopitar set the Los Angeles Kings career assist record in a 4-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.

Kopitar got his 758th NHL assist on the go-ahead goal, scored by Quinton Byfield at 13:26 of the third period. He passed Marcel Dionne, who had 757 assists in 921 games. Kopitar did it in 1,313 games.

“Sometimes you look at that list and the names that are on there, and it makes it very surreal just to be able to be on the same page with those guys, and I guess now passing them,” Kopitar said. “This has been my home, obviously, for quite a while, and I’m pretty much speechless.”

Byfield scored twice and Trevor Moore had a goal for the Kings (14-4-3), who played for the first time since a 2-1 home loss to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday. Cam Talbot made 20 saves.

“We kind of started off slow in the game, and each period we got better, so I liked that we just kept rolling,” Byfield said.

Josh Manson got his first goal of the season, but the Avalanche (15-7-2) lost both games of a back-to-back set following a 4-3 shootout defeat at the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday. Alexandar Georgiev allowed three goals on 37 shots.

Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar did not play because of a lower-body injury.

“We played to our game plan for the most part until 10 minutes left in the game,” Colorado forward Logan O'Connor said. “Our details got lax at the end there, and good teams are gonna find a way to capitalize, and that’s what they did to us.”

Byfield put Los Angeles ahead 2-1 at 13:26 of the third, sitting at the top of the crease to score off Adrian Kempe’s pass. Kopitar had the secondary assist to break the tie with Dionne.

“It was a long time coming,” Byfield said of Kopitar’s latest milestone. “He’s been a great leader for many years on this team and future Hall of Famers as well. So it’s pretty special for me to get that goal and be a part of something like that.”

Moore made it 3-1 at 14:22, scoring on a sharp-angle shot.

Drew Doughty scored into an empty net at 18:53 for the 4-1 final.

“You could tell which team was the rested team in the third period, because they started to put the heat on us,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “They kind of took the game over there.”  

Manson put Colorado ahead 1-0 at 12:28 of the first period. He scored his first goal on a wrist shot from the right circle.  

Byfield tied it 1-1 at 9:03 of the second period, getting to the front of the crease to tip in Mikey Anderson’s shot.

Byfield’s six goals in 21 games are a new NHL career-high. He had five goals in 40 games as a rookie in 2021-22. 

“Now he’s confident to to go in there,” coach Todd McLellan said of Byfield’s ability to attack the crease. “He has the ability to stand in and take a blow and still get a stick on a puck. Those were things he didn’t have when he first got here, not because he couldn’t do them, just he hadn’t experienced the different between junior and the NHL.”

NOTES: Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon had an assist to extend his point streak to eight games (two goals, nine assists). … Colorado forward Mikko Rantanen got his sixth assist during a five-game streak. ... Kempe had two assists.