BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins defeated the Los Angeles Kings in overtime on Tuesday night inside TD Garden.
The game marks the last time superstar forward and future Hall of Famer Anže Kopitar will play in Boston. The Bruins honored Kopitar with a postgame handshake line, in a poignant show of respect.
Kopitar, 38, announced before the season he'd be retiring following this, his 20th season in the league.
He's played over 1500 games, and for the better part of a decade, the Selke Trophy was a two-man race between Kopitar and Patrice Bergeron.
Kopitar played his entire career with the Kings, winning two Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014.
It's the end of an era for one of the greatest players to play the game.
Still, it was the 13th-straight home victory for the Bruins, and with it being an overtime win, it'd be easy for Boston to get lost in the jubilation of another big win as they fight to maintain a playoff spot.
Heck, even it had been a blowout in regulation. Nobody would've found fault with the Bruins if they hadn't acknowledged it.
But, on a team featuring former teammates Viktor Arvidsson, Tanner Jeannot, Joonas Korpisalo, along with Head Coach Marco Sturm.
Sturm, who coached in the Los Angeles organization from 2018 until this past summer, gave Kopitar a huge hug after the entire Bruins team lined up to shake Kopitar's hand.
It's those small touches of class like that, small touches that go a long way around the league and continue to make the Bruins one of the premier brands in the NHL.
From the old guard in Kopitar and the Kings to the next generation in California, as Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks come to town next, for a Thursday night showdown in Boston.