Ex-Chief Brust earns first victory

Anze Kopitar scored two goals and former Spokane Chiefs goalie Barry Brust made 34 saves in his first NHL victory, leading the Los Angeles Kings to a 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night in San Jose, Calif.

Two rookies took starring roles as the Kings built a four-goal lead and coasted to the win. Kopitar scored the game’s first two goals in the opening 7 minutes, and Brust backstopped a solid defensive performance against the lifeless Sharks, who avoided a shutout on Christian Ehrhoff’s power-play goal with 10:01 to play.

Red Wings 3, Blackhawks 2: At Chicago, Henrik Zetterberg, Daniel Cleary and Mikael Samuelsson scored goals, and Dominik Hasek made 29 saves to lead Detroit over the Blackhawks.

Detroit rookie forward Tomas Kopecky broke a collarbone in the opening minute and is expected to miss up to three months following surgery.

Sabres 2, Panthers 1: At Buffalo, N.Y., Maxim Afinogenov scored a power-play goal early in the third period, lifting the Sabres to a victory over Florida.

Bruins 5, Devils 3: At Boston, Patrice Bergeron scored two goals and Brad Stuart scored to snap a tie early in the third period as the Bruins beat New Jersey.

Rangers 5, Stars 2: At Dallas, Henrik Lundqvist made a career-high 43 saves, Matt Cullen and Karel Rachunek scored two goals each, and New York extended its winning streak to five games with a victory over the Stars.

Lundqvist’s brother Joel was in the Dallas lineup, making it the third matchup of twins in NHL history. Rich and Ron Sutter were the last to meet up on March 14, 1994. Patrik and Peter Sundstrom played against each other 18 times.

Predators 6, Senators 0: At Nashville, Tenn., Steve Sullivan had a natural hat trick in the second period, and Scott Hartnell added two goals to lead the Predators over Ottawa.

Canadiens 4, Lightning 2: At Montreal, Cristobal Huet made 41 saves and Saku Koivu scored twice in the third period as the Canadiens came back for a win over Tampa Bay.

Coyotes 5, Blue Jackets 4 (SO): At Glendale, Ariz., Mike Comrie scored on the final attempt of the shootout to lift Phoenix to a victory over Columbus. Fredrik Norrena appeared to make the initial save on Comrie’s low shot, but the puck trickled between his pads for the lone goal of the tiebreaker.

Oilers 3, Wild 1: At Edmonton, Alberta, Jarret Stoll and Shawn Horcoff scored 14 seconds apart late in the third period to lead the Oilers over Minnesota.

Canucks 3, Flames 1: At Vancouver, B.C., Henrik Sedin scored the go-ahead goal late in the second period to lift the Canucks to a win over Calgary.