"These guys are very good," Crawford said. "Their puck-protection skills are at a level of elite players. They protect the puck as well as Jaromir (Jagr) does. They may not have the offensive creativity yet as Jaromir, but they are still young, still developing. They've got tons of talent."
Frolov, 25, and Kopitar, 20, have been key components of the Kings' recent surge.
The NHL's worst team coming in, the Kings improved to 7-3-1 in their last 11 games.
" Even when we were on an eight-game losing streak (Dec. 12-26), we were playing really good but we lost a bunch of one-goal games," Kopitar said. "Our record is not great but the team is showing character and playing really hard now."
As usual, the Kings played well against the Rangers. They are unbeaten in the last five meetings with New York (4-0-1).
Scott Thornton and Brian Boyle also scored for Los Angeles, and Jason LaBarbera made 23 of his 39 saves in the second period.
Chris Drury and Sean Avery scored for New York, which had won three straight and five of the last six.
The Kings went up 2-0 on first-period scores by Thornton and Boyle, a lead they never relinquished.
"We were playing a team that was just getting better and had nothing to lose," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "For a lot of them, it's their first game at Madison Square Garden. We needed a start to possibly put them on their heels."
Instead, it was the Rangers who struggled to catch up.
"I thought we should have jumped on them to get a lead, but it was the other way around" Jagr said. "I don't think we had the energy. It's not like we didn't want to do it."
Los Angeles had the first 10 shots and the persistence paid off as Thornton opened the scoring at 10:10. The Kings pounced on a turnover behind his own goal by Rangers defenseman Jason Strudwick, with Michael Handzus feeding a centering pass to Thornton.
Boyle, who made his NHL debut Saturday, got his second goal in as many games at 13:08, picking the short side from the left circle against Henrik Lundqvist.
Drury connected for the Rangers with 2:10 remaining in the period as he knocked in the rebound of Nigel Dawes' deflection of Paul Mara's point shot. It was Drury's fifth goal in the last four games.
In the second, former Kings forward Avery lost the puck along the boards and Los Angeles turned the flub into a goal by Frolov at 9:18 at the end of a three-way passing sequence with Kopitar and Patrick O'Sullivan.
Just as in the first period, the Rangers got a late goal to trim the deficit to one. Avery atoned for the turnover, finding the net on a goalmouth scramble in front of LaBarbera.
Los Angeles extended the lead to 4-2 at 1:21 of the third as Frolov set up Kopitar in the slot.
