NHL: Los Angeles 6, St. Louis 2

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Dustin Brown produced a hat trick and Anze Kopitar scored twice Thursday in carrying the Los Angeles Kings to a 6-2 whipping of St. Louis.

With regular St. Louis goaltender Manny Legace out of action since he took a blow to the head in a loss to Anaheim Wednesday, the Blues became an easy target for the Kings.

Los Angeles scored four times on 24 shots against starter Chris Mason, who was removed after two periods. Ben Bishop allowed two goals on nine shots in the third.

St. Louis was already without its top two scorers -- Andy McDonald and Paul Kariya -- and has five players on injured reserve.

Brown scored two goals 72 seconds apart in the second period to give the Kings a 3-0 lead, both coming on the power play. He added a goal midway through the third period that made it 5-2 and boosted his total for the season to 11.

Erik Ersberg got the win, making 25 saves.