Kopitar, Carter Lift Kings Over Wild 3-2 In Shootout

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter scored shootout goals for the Los Angeles Kings, who rallied to beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.

Carter and Drew Doughty scored regulation goals for Los Angeles, which had just 18 shots. Jonathan Quick made 29 saves for the Kings, including stops against Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu in the shootout.

Matt Cooke and Jonas Brodin scored in regulation for Minnesota, which had never lost a home opener in its first 12 seasons (11-0-1).

After Quick stopped Parise, Kopitar made a deke on Niklas Backstrom to score for the Kings. Quick then poked the puck away from Koivu on Minnesota's second attempt before Carter beat Backstrom with a backhand to complete the comeback.

With the Kings trailing 2-1, Carter scored on a rebound of a shot by Matt Frattin at 13:14 of the third period to tie it.

Minnesota got on the board just 64 seconds into the game when a centering pass from Kyle Brodziak deflected off Cooke's skate in the crease and past Quick. After a video review, it was determined there was no kicking motion.

Doughty tied it with a power-play goal at 7:40 of the first period with a one-timer from the top of the left circle that clanked off the far post and went in.

Minnesota got its own power-play goal 10 minutes later to go up 2-1.

Nino Niederreiter corralled a loose puck near the right boards and cut to the middle before backhanding a pass to Brodin coming down the slot. His quick shot beat Quick high on the glove side. The defenseman had just two goals last season.

A fashionable pick to win the Pacific Division and go deep into the playoffs, Los Angeles made relatively few offseason changes to its roster. The Kings stayed with the core that helped them advance to the Western Conference finals last spring and win the Stanley Cup in 2012.

Quick is a key part of that nucleus.

He had to be at the top of his game as the Wild had little resistance much of the night when they crashed the net looking for rebounds. Quick made 13 of his saves in the second period, including a glove stop to rob Parise on a power play.

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