Kopitar has goal, assist, Kings ease past Sharks

SAN JOSE -- Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist, and the Los Angeles Kings set an NHL record for the most road wins through 15 road games in a season with a 4-1 victory against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Tuesday.

Kevin Fiala had two assists, and David Rittich made 15 saves in his debut with the Kings (18-6-4), who are 13-1-1 on the road.

"The difference between home and road is we play a simple team game on the road," Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. "We hand off good shifts. Sometimes when we're home, we play in pieces, we extend things. We get a little too cute. So, we've got to take this road game and put it in [at home]."

Jacob MacDonald scored, and Kaapo Kahkonen made 35 saves for the Sharks (9-20-3), who have lost three straight and four of their past five (1-3-1).

"They're one of the best teams on the road, and you can see why," San Jose center Tomas Hertl said. "They come in hard on every puck. They moved really quickly on us and there just wasn't much."

The Sharks have been outscored 11-3 in their past three games. They had five shots on goal in the first period, four in the second period and seven in the third period.

"I thought we had a good first period, and then we stunk for two periods," San Jose coach David Quinn said. "That was men amongst boys in the second and third period. They were quicker and played with more conviction.

"We're in a little bit of a rut there, with the energy piece of it. We've got to get back on track."

Kopitar gave the Kings a 1-0 lead on a power play at 17:48 of the first on a feed from Arthur Kaliyev behind the net.

Los Angeles has scored a power-play goal in six straight games.

"We have great players on two units," Kaliyev said. "We’re a threat. Any unit that goes out there, we're doing a good job with it."

Trevor Moore scored his 15th goal of the season at 4:07 of the second after a cross-ice pass from Fiala to make it 2-0, and Alex Laferriere extended the Kings lead to 3-0 at 5:17 when he tipped a shot by Kopitar.

Trevor Lewis made it 4-0 with a short-handed, empty-net goal at 18:12 of the third.

MacDonald scored with a shot from the point for a power-play goal at 18:41 for the 4-1 final. It was his fifth goal of the season.

"I think we could've done a better job as a [defense] corps breaking the puck out," Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun said. "Overall, the team just needs to take care of the puck a bit better. They're a good hockey team and I think they kind of took it to us tonight."

NOTES: Kopitar has 70 points (27 goals, 43 assists) in 90 games against the Sharks, which is the fourth most by any player against San Jose. Teemu Selanne had 99 points (51 goals, 48 assists) in 92 games. … Kings forward Adrian Kempe played his 500th NHL game. … Hertl won 10 of 15 face-offs (66.7 percent), and Los Angeles center Pierre-Luc Dubois won 10 of 14 (71.4 percent).