Frozen Royalty: Kings’ Playoff Success In Jeopardy After Losing Anze Kopitar

The Kings are finally starting to get their groove playing some decent hockey. Then Justin Williams goes down. Then, a few games later, Anze Kopitar goes down. Gann Matsuda was at the game when Kopitar went down with the ankle injury. Here’s some great quotes and analysis on our playoff chances. Checkit!

LOS ANGELES — Going into the 2010-11 season, the Los Angeles Kings were expected to be a playoff team, as they were last season. But expectations were higher this season, their benchmark for success being to make it into the second round, the Western Conference semi-finals, and with just eight games remaining, their prospects were looking good.

But all that may have come crashing down on March 26, during a decisive 4-1 win over the hapless Colorado Avalanche, as the Kings lost star center Anze Kopitar, who suffered a broken right ankle in a freakish fall late in the second period.

He will be out of the lineup for a minimum of six weeks.

Kopitar will undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination on March 28, when the full extent of his injury will become clear, and although there has been no further word from the Kings medical staff, no one should be surprised if Kopitar will be out of the lineup for much longer than six weeks.

At the 15:39 mark of the second period, Kopitar fell backwards, his right leg twisting while his skate remained firmly planted on the ice. Video of the incident, especially slow motion replay, was a gruesome sight to behold.

“He just fell backwards,” said head coach Terry Murray. “I didn’t see anyone around him, other than [Avalanche defenseman Ryan] O’Bryne up against the boards, and they were just reaching in, battling for the puck, and he fell back.”

“I don’t know if there was some contact, but if there was, it was just a hockey play,” added Murray. “There’s no way you look at another player on this one. It’s just unfortunate the injury happened.”

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