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Henrik Sedin leads Canucks

Nov 27, 2009 - 7:13 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia(AP) -- Vancouver center Henrik Sedin works every day to improve on faceoffs. It paid off against Los Angeles on Thursday night.

Sedin set up the first goal by winning an offensive-zone draw, and scored the go-ahead goal 3:54 into the third period after winning another, leading the Canucks to a 4-1 victory over the Kings.

"Faceoffs are something we've been working at every day," said Sedin, who has seven goals in his last eight games. "It's a big part of the game - to start with the puck - so it's huge for us."

On the winner, Sedin won the puck back to Alexander Edler for a point shot, then went to the net and cashed in the rebound.

"Great shot by Eddie and I was able to tap it in, Sedin said.

Tanner Glass jammed in a rebound just over 3 minutes later, Kyle Wellwood scored his first of the season into an empty net with 5.3 seconds left, and Roberto Luongo made 31 saves to help Vancouver win for the third time in four games.

"It was probably one of my best games this year I thought," Luongo said.

Wayne Simmonds tied the game in the final minute of the second period for the Kings, whose only win the last four games came Wednesday night in Edmonton.

"Two faceoff goals against," said Kings coach Terry Murray, whose team only won 25 of 66 draws. "It ended up being the part of the game that cost us."

Jonathan Quick made 30 saves for Los Angeles.

"I felt bad for Quick," Murray said. "He made some big stops."

Burrows opened the scoring 7:35 in on a pretty play by twin linemates Daniel and Henrik Sedin during an offensive-zone draw after Kings defenseman Drew Doughty iced the puck. Henrik won the puck back to Daniel, who circled down below the right faceoff circle and fed a perfect backdoor pass to Burrows, who fought off Doughty's check to tap in his second goal in the last 19 games.

Quick kept Vancouver from doubling its lead with a couple of great saves before the period ended, including a a larcenous glove stop to take an empty net away from Ryan Kesler during a power play.

Not to be outdone, Luongo made a sprawling stop on Scott Parse's deke after he stepped out of the penalty box on the power play and right into a breakaway.

Quick made another good stop on Burrows' backhand in tight on a power play 30 seconds into the second period, but Luongo stole the show 2 minutes later after a turnover sent Teddy Purcell in alone. A good fake had Luongo down and the net empty, but the Canucks captain reached back with his glove and stopped Purcell's shot on the goal line, a save that was upheld by video review.

"I made the first move and was out of position but sometimes even when you are out of position you got to try to put an arm or a leg out there and fortunately that time it went in my glove," said Luongo, who wasn't sure if his glove was over the goal line when he stopped it. "It was really close. I wasn't sure what was going to happen but you got to reward the effort there.

Luongo stopped Dustin Brown in tight 3 minutes later, made two more tough saves off Justin Williams, and stuffed Brown again cutting behind the defense before Simmonds finally scored with 42.2 seconds left in the second period. Parse's pass from the goal line hit a skate in front and bounced to Simmonds unchecked at the far side and he quickly lifted it past a sprawling Luongo.

"It was a little frustrating to get scored on right at the end of the period," Luongo said. "But we regrouped as a team and came back strong in the third.

Simmonds hit the post early in the third period. But the Kings didn't get much from Anze Kopitar, who is tied for the NHL lead with 33 points but has been stuck at 14 goals for eight games, recording five assists in that stretch.

"They took time and space away," Kopitar said.

The Kings were short-handed after losing 19-year-old Andrei Loktionov to an upper-body injury during his NHL debut Wednesday in Edmonton. So they replaced one teen with another, signing 18-year-old junior player Brayden Schenn - the fifth overall pick in the 2009 draft - to a one-day amateur tryout and placing him on the second line with Alexander Frolov and Brown. Schenn almost picked up a late assist during a shift on the top line, but also lost the faceoff to Sedin that led to the go-ahead goal.

"Schenn was very good," Murray said. "This was a hard game and a great opportunity for us to take a look at him and evaluate him and boy, he's going to be a good player."

NOTES: Schenn, the younger brother of Toronto defensemman Luke Schenn, became the third-youngest to play for the Kings. He was one of the last cuts out of training camp, and had 12 goals and 39 points in 24 games with Brandon after being sent back to junior. But he was close to Vancouver after representing the Western Hockey League in an exhibition against a Russian team in Victoria on Wednesday night.