Seven times in the past 11 seasons the Kings have advanced to the Stanley Cup playoffs, only to leave after the first round.
They’ve changed coaches five times, general managers twice, even the team captains have changed over that span. But the results have not.
The latest flameout came Sunday when the Colorado Avalanche rode two goals from Nathan MacKinnon and goals from Cale Makar, Nicolas Roy and Devon Toews to a 5-1 win and a sweep of the first-round playoff series.
Joel Edmundson had the lone goal for the Kings.
Kings captain Anze Kopitar acknowledges the crowd after playing in his final NHL game Sunday.
And with the end of the season comes the end of an era because it marked the final game Anze Kopitar’s spectacular 20-year career.
“I’ve never experienced that emotion,” Kopitar said of leaving the ice for the last time. ”There’s always a next year. Now it’s done. So it’s hard to comprehend.
“It’s been one hell of a ride for 20 years. The good, the bad and the ugly. Not the way we wanted to go out, but it happened, and we got to live with it.”
Kopitar, who played his entire career with the Kings, announced in September that this would be his last season and he heads into retirement as the franchise record-holder in games (1,521), points (1,316) and assists (864). He’s third all time in goals (452) and was also the leader — and leading scorer — on the Kings’ two Stanley Cup championship teams in 2012 and 2014.
But the numbers don’t tell the whole story.
“The way he treats people,” interim coach D.J. Smith said of what stands most for him about Kopitar. “He treats the guys in the back that no one sees the exact same as his teammates. No one’s bigger than the team and Kopi showed that every single day. Everyone was the same. He knows everyone’s kids names.
“You see these things that go by the wayside, that star players in sports today, a lot of them don’t do anymore. Kopi’s a throwback and a classy, classy human being.”
Kings center Anze Kopitar warms up before Game 4 against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
As the clock ticked down on the final seconds of Kopitar’s career, the sold-out crowd at Crypto.com Arena serenaded him with a chant of “Thank you, Kopi!” Following the game, Avalanche players lined up to shake his hand, the four officials stood off to the side and applauded him and his Kings teammates banged their sticks on the ice in rhythmic salute.
“The ultimate pro,” Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “He commands so, so much respect for how he plays the game, how he represents himself and the team. He plays the game the right way.”
With Kopitar’s departure, defenseman Drew Doughty becomes not just the last holdover from the Stanley Cup teams, but the last man to play in a postseason series the Kings won.
“It’s old,” he said of the seven straight first-round postseason losses. “Obviously we want more and wanted to win a playoff series or two. I don’t have any answers as to why it’s not happening.”
Kings captain Anze Kopitar stands on the ice during the national anthem before Game 4 against the Colorado Avalanche.
If anything, the Kings are going backward because they won a game, at least, in their last five playoffs appearances. Against the Avalanche they not only failed to win, they led just once, for three minutes and 21 seconds late in Game 2.
On Sunday, Colorado went in front to stay on a power-play goal from MacKinnon with less than seven minutes left in the first period. It was the first score of the series for MacKinnon, who led the NHL with 53 goals during the regular season.
Makar doubled the lead 5:48 into the second period. The Kings rallied briefly, cutting the deficit in half on Edmundson’s goal about eight minutes later. But in the third period three unanswered Colorado goals put the game and series away. When MacKinnon capped the scoring on an empty-netter with 5:38 to play, it brought an early end to another disappointing postseason for the Kings while starting another long offseason, one the team enters with more questions than answers.
Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson, left, battles Colorado forward Gabriel Landeskog for the puck in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
The first issue general manager Ken Holland will have to address is the fate of Smith, who replaced Jim Hiller behind the bench with 23 games to go and guided the Kings into the playoffs, only to see them fall flat. Is that enough to remove the interim tag from his title and make him the permanent head coach?
Offensively, forward Adrian Kempe was the only player to top 30 goals and 70 points for the Kings — winger Artemi Panarin had 84 points, but most of those came with the New York Rangers before the February trade that sent him to L.A. And the date for forward Kevin Fiala’s return from multiple fractures in left leg remains uncertain.
The Kings may also have problems in goal where journeyman Anton Forsberg, 33, played brilliantly during the postseason but has averaged fewer than 21 starts a season during his 11-year career. And Darcy Kuemper, who lost the starting job after the Olympic break, posted the second-worst save percentage (.891) and fourth-highest goals-against average (2.78) of his career. Kuemper turns 36 next month.
Kings captain Anze Kopitar plays his final NHL shift in Game 4 against the Colorado Avalanche.
What Holland won’t be able to do is replace the irreplaceable Kopitar, who is eager to get started on his new job as a full-time dad to 11-year-old daughter Neža, a budding figure skater, and Jakob, his 9-year-old hockey-playing son.
“These are two reasons that I’m really going to enjoy next year,” said Kopitar, who shared the dais for a postgame news conference with his children. “It’s very bittersweet, for sure. There’s going to be some tears, but that’s the way the life goes, right? It’s a circle.
“We’re away and you’re missing birthdays and you’re missing competitions and hockey games. Now they get to wake up in the morning and see me there, which is what they deserve. They’ve been, you know, 11 years, nine years with a so-called part-time dad. Now they get full time.”
Kings captain Anze Kopitar raises the Stanley Cup as he floats across Lake Bled in Slovenia with family and friends in 2012.
