Anze Kopitar's wife Ines pens uplifting message for beau after LA Kings get eliminated by Edmonton in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs

Modified May 03, 2025 11:00 GMT

Anze Kopitar’s LA Kings were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs after a 6-4 loss to the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 on Thursday. The Kings had a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series but lost the next four games.

Meanwhile, Kopitar has been named a finalist for the 2025 Lady Byng Trophy. This is his fourth time as a finalist and he has previously won the award twice, once in 2016 and again in 2023.

On Friday, Kopitar’s wife, Ines, penned an uplifting message for him on her Instagram stories. She shared a post from the LA Kings’ official Instagram account featuring a poster where the team congratulated him.

“So proud of you my ❤️,” she wrote, tagging Kopitar in the story.

Kopitar is one of three finalists for the award this year, alongside Jack Eichel of the Vegas Golden Knights and Brayden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Eichel tallied a career-high 94 points with only four minor penalties in 77 games, while Point registered 82 points and just seven penalty minutes, including one minor penalty over 77 games.

This season, Anze Kopitar recorded 67 points (21 goals, 46 assists) and accrued only four penalty minutes over 81 games. The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the NHL player who has shown the best sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct with a high standard of playing ability.

Anze Kopitar reflects on yet another first-round series loss

In the post-game interview, Anze Kopitar mentioned that the loss was very difficult to process because of how strong the team had been throughout the season. He shared that the group in the locker room had high expectations, and falling short again was frustrating and painful.

He acknowledged that this particular series loss might be the hardest one yet, especially given that the Kings had home-ice advantage and won the first two games.

“And uh, you know, and even if we had an off night, you know, I thought we always came back strong and, you know, playing the team game. And you know, tonight was no different. The effort was there, the fight was there, but we came up short,” he said.

Kopitar also credited the team’s fight and resilience, and mentioned that their effort and character had been consistent all season.

About the author

Anjum is an NHL reporter at Sportskeeda with over five years of professional experience in the spectator sports industry. Raised in Bahrain, Anjum grew up close to the Formula 1 and GP2 scene, but it was ice-sports that she truly had a chance to play at school.

Anjum prioritizes thorough research, fact-checking and verification of sources when reporting, and has worked for Oil on Whyte, Leafs Herald, the Nation of Blaugrana, Barca International Cules, FromTheBend, Last Word On Sports and NASA.

She got interested in ice hockey after watching the “MVP” trilogy as a second grader and has not gotten over the sport yet. Her favorite player is Alex Ovechkin, whose legendary one-timers live rent free in her heart. The iconic moment when Ovechkin reached 800 career goals with a hat trick in Chicago as the away crowd chanted “Ovi, Ovi” is probably her happiest memory from an ice-rink.

When not enjoying the game, Anjum can be found sailing, star-mapping or collaborating with fellow citizen scientists at NASA.

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