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Kings top Canucks as Luongo sits

Dec 11, 2007 - 7:19 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Vancouver Canucks are just not the same team when Roberto Luongo is not in goal.

Anze Kopitar scored a goal and set up another and Jean-Sebastien Aubin made 26 saves as the Los Angeles Kings skated to a 4-2 victory over the Canucks on Monday night.

Dustin Brown and Derek Armstrong each tallied a goal and an assist for the Kings, who had lost four of their previous five games and still hold the worst record in the Western Conference.

Curtis Sanford got the nod in goal Monday in place of last season's Vezina Trophy finalist Luongo, who has started all but four games for Vancouver this season. Luongo had been on a roll lately, yielding just five goals over his last six games, but has been hampered by rib contusion.

"It's been injured since last Sunday in Minnesota and the last two days it got worse," Luongo said. "I didn't think I was good enough to go. It was pretty painful this morning. I tried to take warmups to see how it feels, maybe it would feel better, but it wasn't."

Sanford has not been a bad backup, winning each of his three previous starts this season, but he struggled early in this one.

"It's a little tougher (then knowing you're going to play) but you always prepare yourself to play, whether you're playing or backing up," Sanford said. "I knew I was prepared to get in there."

Defenseman Brad Stuart gave Los Angeles an early 1-0 lead with his third goal of the campaign at 3:22 of the first period.

The Canucks answered on a power play to tie the game at 1-1 at 7:34 of the opening session, when Taylor Pyatt fought off a defender, received a centering pass from Brendan Morrison, and knocked a shot past Aubin.

The Kings wasted little time regaining the lead. Kopitar took a pass from Brown while breaking into the zone and flipped a backhander over the near-side shoulder of Sanford to make the score 2-1 at the 9:19 mark of the first.

"They came out strong and had a good first period," Vancouver coach Alan Vigneault said. "They played a strong game tonight and we just didn't have enough of our players having a good game."

On the play, Kopitar extended his point streak to seven games, while Brown's point streak is now at nine.

Armstrong padded Los Angeles' advantage to 3-1 at 4:49 of the second period. After blue-liner Rob Blake's shot from the right circle was blocked in front of the goal, Armstrong scooped up the loose puck and fired it past Sanford.

"Jaromir Jagr doesn't have to worry (about my scoring burst)," Armstrong said of his two-point night. "Sometimes you just have to let the game come to you and stop thinking. Just enjoy the game and play hard."

"The difference in Armstrong over the last couple of games is confidence and we really need a second scoring line to support Brown, Kopitar and Cammalleri," Los Angeles coach Marc Crawford said.

Brown gave the Kings a 4-1 edge, chipping in a pass from Armstrong on a man advantage with 8:19 left in the final session.

"You look up and see he's not in the lineup, so of course it's an advantage," Brown said of Luongo's absence. "He's a world class goaltender but we're missing our No. 1 guy (starting goaltender Jason LaBarbera), too. Once the puck drops it doesn't matter, you have to beat the guy between the pipes."

Sanford stopped 27 of the 31 shots he faced on the night. It marked his first loss of the season.

Vancouver, which has lost both meetings with Los Angeles this season, has lost back-to-back games after winning five of its previous six.

For Aubin, it was his first win since November 10, going 0-4-1 over that stretch.

"It was one of our more complete wins of the season," Crawford said. "The only time they really threatened was on the power play, that's where they got both their goals."