Brown has tricky night in Kings’ win

Dustin Brown’s contributions to the Kings don’t always appear on the scoresheet.

As the team captain, he’s responsible for maintaining harmony in the locker room and serving as a liaison between players and coaches. As one of the top six forwards, he’s responsible for maintaining a consistent scoring pace while dishing out his trademark bruising checks.

On Thursday, he made his mark in ways quantifiable and not, and his hat trick wasn’t his only significant contribution to the Kings’ 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues at Staples Center.

Brown drew two penalties in the second period, luring B.J. Crombeen into interfering with him at 6:32 and Dan Hinote to trip him in order to stop him at 7:09. Brown scored on the ensuing five-on-three advantage and again while the Kings had a five-on four edge, part of a three-goal spree the scoring-starved Kings enjoyed in the period.

Brown completed his first career hat trick at 12:45 of the third period, when a shot by Jarret Stoll caromed off Brown’s leg and past a beleaguered Ben Bishop, who had replaced starter Chris Mason after two periods.

Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar (twice) also scored for the Kings, who had averaged barely more than two goals a game in their previous five games and were the lowest-scoring team in the Western Conference.

“I felt like I’d been in a slump. I was getting chances, but the pucks weren’t going in,” said Brown, who increased his season total to 11 goals.

“I was just trying to keep it simple and putting pucks on the net. That’s what we need as a team, throwing pucks at the net.”

The Kings’ victory was their third in three games against the Blues this season, no doubt a source of angst to Andy Murray, the former Kings coach who now has the same duties in St. Louis.

The Blues, not very deep to begin with, have been further weakened by losing forwards Paul Kariya and Andy McDonald to injuries. They also lost No. 1 goalie Manny Legace to a mild concussion Wednesday, suffered when he was hit in the head by the knee of Ducks forward Ryan Carter after a Ducks goal. Legace was put on injured reserve Thursday, leaving Mason to face the Kings.

Mason stopped 12 of 13 shots in the first period and had very little chance on the one that eluded him.

The Kings were on the power play when Michal Handzus won a faceoff from Yan Stastny to keep the puck in the Blues’ zone. The puck landed on the stick of Kyle Quincey, who was about 15 feet inside the left point when he shot. Frolov, with superb hand-eye coordination, held his stick out and redirected the shot home at 10:18.

Brown, who had been taken off the Kings’ first line to give recently recalled winger Teddy Purcell a chance to play with Kopitar and Patrick O’Sullivan, was a forceful presence in the second period.

After he led the Blues to take those penalties, he made them pay at 7:32. Quincey, himself an ever-more important force, took a shot from the blue line that knuckled its way to the net. Brown deflected the puck past Mason by shooting on the backhand with his stick between his legs.

He struck again at 8:44 when his ice-skimming shot from the right circle slipped between Mason’s leg pads. Kopitar and Drew Doughty earned assists on the play. “It happened to work out. We capitalized,” Brown said. “I think that’s a result of our work ethic and how hard we worked tonight.”

St. Louis scored on Erik Ersberg once in the second period and again in the third, by Cam Paddock and Carlo Colaiacovo, respectively.

Colaiacovo’s goal into an empty left side closed the Blues’ deficit to 4-2 at 8:19 of the third period, but Brown restored the three-goal margin at 12:45 after some good digging by Kyle Calder. Kopitar ended the scoring, at 13:22, giving the Kings a rare laugher.

They had been 1-3-1 in their previous five and had looked more than a little ragged in the process. This won’t persuade anyone that they’re a playoff team, but there are enough teams around their level -- on the upswing like Phoenix or curious mixtures like Colorado and Edmonton -- for the Kings to stay within half a dozen points of the last playoff spot.

In any case, this was a solid start to a four-game homestand. “We were talking about that before the game,” Quincey said. “It’s about time right now, we’ve got to bear down. . . . . We had a good one tonight and we have to come back and get at least two more out of three, I think.”

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helene.elliott@latimes.com