Mature rookie

I asked Anze Kopitar about his motivation. It seemed obvious to me that as a rookie, his motivation was to make the NHL and show people that he could play at this level, which he certainly accomplished. So I wanted to know about next season, and what would drive him during the summer. Being known as a No. 1 center? Leading the team in scoring? Instead, he gave me an answer that was relatively bland but said a lot about his maturity as a 19 year old.

``The next step is just helping the team make the playoffs,'' Kopitar said. ``That's the only thing I'm looking for next year.''

As a center, Kopitar has played with just about every winger on the roster this season. Marc Crawford certainly isn't shy about moving guys around. I asked Kopitar specifically about his pairing with Dustin Brown, since that connection seems to be working well in the last few games.

``He's a guy who can make plays and hit hard,'' Kopitar said. ``When he's out there, he creates more space for me and everyone beause people are aware of him and he makes plays and hits that give you a couple extra seconds when you have the puck. He's just overall really good.''

More from practice later.