Brust gets a primer with Kings

Despite having only one game of NHL experience and no “book” on the Dallas Stars, Kings goaltender Barry Brust quickly devised a strategy Saturday for his first shootout.

“You get to watch the highlights a little bit,” he said, “and try not to be one.”

Brust did nothing to embarrass himself in the Kings’ 4-3 loss, and though that assessment seems lukewarm, it’s more than can be said about many performances turned in by their goalies this season.

The Kings have become solid defensively and determined on offense, and they’ve solved the power-play mysteries their previous coach, Andy Murray, never seemed able to decipher. But goaltending has become their great weakness, minimizing their progress in what was supposed to be a rebuilding season.

Dan Cloutier, acquired from Vancouver on the recommendation of Coach Marc Crawford, was handed the starting job -- and an inexplicable two-year, $6.2-million contract extension -- but couldn’t stop a beach ball. So the Kings turned to Mathieu Garon, who seemed poised to force Crawford into playing him until he had a clunker at Phoenix on Nov. 4, giving up five goals on 17 shots.

The Kings went back to Cloutier, who won two consecutive decisions before reverting to his terrible form. Cue Garon, who won two of three games before he injured his groin Nov. 29.

Re-enter Cloutier, who started to play well and earned victories over the Ducks and Colorado before he suffered a shoulder injury while warming up at San Jose on Thursday. Since the NHL’s arcane rules prevent the Kings from summoning Jason LaBarbera from the minors without putting him through waivers, that left Brust, a 23-year-old in his third season of professional hockey, to start and win at San Jose without a backup.

On Saturday, he had an understudy. Hastily summoned from Manchester, N.H., admittedly shaking as he fastened his pads and skates, Yutaka Fukufuji became the first Japanese-born player to dress for an NHL game. “I was surprised. I couldn’t believe it,” Fukufuji said of his promotion.

Neither could Bill Ranford, the Kings’ goaltending coach.

“When I walked into the dressing room today and saw Brust and Fukufuji, I don’t think anyone going into this year would have thought they’d see that,” Ranford said.

“But this is an opportunity for both guys to show what they’ve got and show the coaching staff and management whether they’re able to adapt to that next level.”

Since Rob Blake made his debut with the Kings late in the 1989-90 season, he has played with 25 Kings goalies. That includes two with the surname Scott -- Ron and Travis -- one Hall of Fame member, Grant Fuhr, and a goalie from Switzerland, Pauli Jaks. And as of this week, that list includes Brust and Fukufuji.

Sometimes, it’s impossible to tell the goalies even with a scorecard.

Blake said he was prepared to calm down Brust before the shootout but didn’t have to bother.

“He’s a very relaxed guy,” Blake said. “He came to the bench and was just joking around and saying, ‘What do you think these guys are going to do?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. They don’t know what you’re going to do, so don’t worry about it.’

“He played really well for us these last couple games, very good.”

Brust yielded a goal on the Stars’ first shot, 55 seconds into the game, but Ranford said Brust might have been screened. Ranford said Brust probably didn’t close his pads quickly enough on Dallas’ second goal, by Stu Barnes, but said Barnes’ play was skillful enough to beat any goalie.

Nor did Ranford find fault on Dallas’ tying goal, which deflected down and hit the ice before rising and eluding Brust.

In the shootout, Brust got lucky when Sergei Zubov missed the net and Jussi Jokinen hit the post, but he was outsmarted by Mike Ribeiro’s wrist shot.

“He’s in a situation where all he could do is just go out there and play,” said Ranford, who spent much of Friday going over the Stars’ tendency to shoot quick one-timers and crowd the net.

Brust, who two years ago was playing for the Reading (Pa.) Royals of the East Coast Hockey League, acknowledged that “everything’s a little bit better” in the NHL.

“Guys don’t let you see the puck as much in front. There’s a lot of screening and tipping,” he said. “We got a couple of unlucky bounces, and unfortunately we couldn’t get the two points.... It was tough when they scored on the first shift, but the boys battled back.”

Brust is a native of Swan River, Canada, a town of 4,032 in the province of Manitoba. But he hasn’t been overwhelmed by the whirlwind of the big leagues.

“You just try and do what you can and not think too much and just play and have some fun out there.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com