Kings 3, Devils 1: Anze Kopitar scored one goal and set up two others to lift Los Angeles to a crucial victory in the opener of its five-game road trip.

Defenseman Andrej Sekera and Tyler Toffoli also tallied as the Kings remained two points behind Calgary for third place in the Pacific Division. Marian Gaborik collected a pair of assists and Jonathan Quick turned aside 19 shots as Los Angeles also stayed four points in back of Winnipeg for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Scott Gomez netted the lone goal for New Jersey, which lost its second straight to deal another blow to its flickering playoff hopes. Cory Schneider made 30 saves in falling to 4-2-0 lifetime against the Kings.

Los Angeles dominated the opening 20 minutes, outshooting the Devils 16-3 en route to building a 2-0 lead. Sekera ripped a slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle past Schneider midway through the first before Toffoli buried a cross-crease feed from Gaborik during a 5-on-3 advantage with 38 seconds left in the period.

The Devils killed off the remainder of the power play to begin the second session before Gomez cut the deficit in half at 2:12, sweeping home a rebound from deep in the right circle. Kopitar restored the two-goal lead by burying a rebound from the bottom of the left circle at 5:05 of the third

GAME NOTEBOOK: Kopitar has collected 12 points in his last 10 games and moved into sixth place on the franchise list with 386 assists, breaking a tie with Butch Goring (384). ... Gomez's seventh goal marks his highest output since recording that amount in 2010-11 and is one more than the total from his previous three seasons combined. ... Kings D Alec Martinez, sidelined since Feb. 7 due to a concussion, returned to the lineup along with C Mike Richards, who was recalled after being sent to the minors during the All-Star break.