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Dustin Brown’s hat trick leads Kings to 8-3 romp over Canucks

By Helene Elliott
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Dustin Brown, frustrated by Roberto Luongo in the Olympic gold-medal game between the U.S. and Canada just over a month ago, got a small measure of revenge Thursday.

Brown recorded the second hat trick of his career and added an assist for a career-best four points as the Kings routed a shaky Luongo and the ineffective Canucks, 8-3, before an appreciative crowd at Staples Center. Jack Johnson, Brown’s teammate on the U.S. Olympic squad, also had a strong game with two crucial assists.

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Kings goaltender Jonathan Bernier wasn’t often challenged in winning his second straight game since his call-up from Manchester of the American Hockey League. His teammates gave him ample offensive support, scoring three times in the first, twice in the second and three times in the third.

The Kings’ magic number for clinching a playoff spot is four: if they earn four points or ninth-place Calgary fails to earn four, the Kings will advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2002.

More later at www.latimes.com/sports

-- Helene Elliott

Sports Now
Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

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