NEWARK — Anze Kopitar scored a spectacular goal on a breakaway with 11:47 left in overtime Wednesday night and the Los Angeles Kings beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final.
Kopitar faked a backhand shot, put the puck on his forehand and beat a prone Martin Brodeur.
Los Angeles has won all nine of its road games in the playoffs, an NHL record. The Kings are now one shy of the NHL record for postseason road victories.
More importantly, they are three victories away from the franchise’s first NHL title. They have won 11 consecutive road playoff games dating to last season.
Colin Fraser scored in the first period for the Kings, the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference who beat the top three teams to get to their first Stanley Cup final since 1993.
Anton Volchenkov tied it late in the second period for New Jersey, the East’s sixth seed.
Kopitar took a pass by Justin Williams from along the left wing boards and skated in alone on Brodeur. As soon as he rifled the puck into the net, he raised his hands and banged himself into the boards, facing the crowd off to Brodeur’s right.
The veteran goaltender dejectedly skated off to the locker room as the rest of the Kings piled on Kopitar.
Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick finished with 17 saves in what was a relatively easy night. Brodeur had 23 saves as the Devils lost in overtime for just the second time this postseason; they have won four times. LA is 3-0 in overtime games in the playoffs.
The Devils had two great chances to take the lead early in the third period, and for a split second it appeared they went ahead with 16:02 to play in regulation when Zach Parise scored off a wild goalmouth scramble.
While the horns went off and the fans celebrated, referee Dan O’Halloran quickly waved off the goal.
It was reviewed in Toronto and replay clearly showed Parise swept the puck into the net with his hand.
Defenseman Mark Fayne missed a wide-open net from the edge of the crease six minutes later in what was the Devils’ best period of the night.
Th e Kings had their chances, too, with Brodeur making two outstanding saves about 10 seconds apart. He made a stacked-pad save on a one-timer by defenseman Drew Doughty from 30 feet after a drop pass from Mike Richards. A turnover seconds later set up Dustin Penner for a shot from the left circle.
At a glance NHL STANLEY CUP FINAL (Best-of-7) All times Central WEDNESDAY’S GAME Los Angeles 2, New Jersey 1, OT
Los Angeles leads series 1-0 SATURDAY’S GAME Los Angeles at New Jersey, 7 p.m. MONDAY’S GAME New Jersey at Los Angeles, 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6 New Jersey at Los Angeles, 7 p.m.
Sports, Pages 23 on 05/31/2012