The award goes "to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities on and off the ice and who plays a leading role in his community growing the game of hockey."  Messier gets team and league personnel to provide a list of candidates and then he selects a winner. "We're all trying to grow the game. Between the LA Kings and myself I think we've done a really good job around here in SoCal, with the help of the Anaheim Ducks team," Kopitar said in an interview with Messier after being named the 16th recipient of the award. "Just getting the game spread apart here in SoCal, and I think we're doing a pretty good job."

Kopitar got the Kings on the board at the 10:07 mark of the second period after the Oilers jumped out to a 5-0 lead. He also picked up an assist on Phillip Danault's power-play goal a little over seven minutes later. Kopitar concluded the contest with five shots, three hits and one bock. He didn't have a point in the first two games of the series. 

Kopitar and the Kings failed to capitalize on any of their opportunities due to Mike Smith who completely turned around his brutal Game 1 performance on Wednesday night. The Kings had ample opportunity to find the back of the net but Smith would not be had. He did get a little help from his cross-bar on a chance from Alex Iafallo who was set up by Kopitar in the first period. The 34-year-old finished the game with a minus-2 rating, six shots on goal, and a hit in 19:55 of ice-time. The series shifts to Los Angeles on Friday for Game 3. 

“You try to share everything, but the thing is, you have to experience it first,” Kopitar said. “I can talk to them all I want, but you have to experience that. I remember my first couple of playoff games, you could have had Wayne [Gretzky] talk to me and I still would have been nervous. It’s a fine line. You want to help them as much as you can, but you don’t want to overload them too much either.” On that front, even making the playoffs this year should be a good stepping stone for the Kings' next generation, even if things don't end up going well on the ice. The Kings' playoff series against Edmonton will start on Monday.