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All eyes Monday night were on former New York Rangers forward Artemi Panarin, who returned to Madison Square Garden for the first time since a Feb. 4 trade sent him to the Los Angeles Kings. By the final buzzer, however, the spotlight shifted to Kings captain Anze Kopitar.
Kopitar had one assist in a 4-1 Los Angeles win, helping the Kings move into a tie with the Seattle Kraken for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference at 71 points (31-26-9). He lingered on the ice afterwards as the Rangers lined up to shake hands with the future Hockey Hall of Famer.
“He’s been one of my favorite players since I was a kid. A guy I’ve looked up to — just one of the greats in the game,” Rangers captain J.T. Miller lauded postgame. “He’s played so long. He’s done it so long at the level he’s played at.”
In September, Kopitar announced the 2025-26 season would be his last. Monday marked his last appearance at MSG in a historic 20-year NHL career.
“He’s an inspiration for guys looking up to play big center hockey,” Miller stated. “We’re just happy for him. So to get that moment with him was really nice.”
Before departing the ice, Kopitar acknowledged the Garden crowd with a wave, as many Rangers fans stayed to give the 38-year-old one last New York send-off.
“There’s only a few players that will get that kind of treatment,” former Rangers goalie and Hockey Hall of Famer Henrik Lundqvist noted on the MSG postgame show. “We saw it with [Marc-Andre] Fleury last year. Now to see Kopitar get the same treatment — and he deserves it.”
Kopitar’s resume includes two Selke trophies, three Lady Byng trophies, and two Stanley Cup championships (2012, 2014). He passed Marcel Dionne as the Kings’ all-time scoring leader (1,309 points) on Saturday by scoring twice in a 6-4 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
“There’s a few players that had an impact — not only for their team, their club, but on the sport itself,” Lundqvist continued. “For such a long time, 20 years, just the impact he’s had on the game of hockey for so long.
“So well respected around the League by players [and] fans. He definitely deserved this moment. I love the fans cheering him on as he skates off the ice. I love that moment. It was great to see.”
Former teammates Kopitar, Quick share moment at MSG
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Two of Kopitar’s former Kings teammates were at the back of the handshake line.
First came Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who played with Kopitar for three seasons from 2023 to 2025. Gavrikov joined the Kings midway through the 2022-23 season as part of the trade return from the Columbus Blue Jackets for goalie Jonathan Quick. The veteran defenseman signed with the Rangers as a free agent last July 1.
Quick — now a teammate of Gavrikov’s in New York — was the final Ranger to embrace Kopitar. After sharing the ice for 16 seasons in Los Angeles, the two came together for one final moment on Garden ice.
Quick and Kopitar helped cement the Kings as one of the best teams of the 2010s, leading the franchise to its only two Stanley Cup titles. In 2014, they led the Kings to their second championship in three seasons, defeating Lundqvist and the Rangers in a five-game Stanley Cup Final.
Quick had a 1.63 goals-against average and .936 save percentage in the 2014 Final. Kopitar led Los Angeles with 26 points (five goals, 21 assists) in the 2014 playoffs, including two assists against New York.
Kopitar ranks 28th all-time in assists (859) and is one of 10 players to win the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward multiple times. Quick leads all American-born goalies in wins (409), the 12th-highest total in NHL history.
It doesn’t figure to be long before both are enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
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