Healthy is the new happy on the Vancouver Canucks, with patchwork lineups a thing of the past.

Led by Henrik Sedin with one goal and one assist, Vancouver looked solid in knocking off the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 at General Motors Place on Thursday night.

Sedin broke a 1-1 deadlock less than four minutes into the third period, winning a faceoff and heading to the net to chip in a rebound after Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick kicked aside Alex Edler's point shot.

Sedin has prospered from the gradual return of injured regulars, compiling eight goals and 10 points in his last nine outings.

Alex Burrows and Kyle Wellwood had a goal and an assist apiece, and Tanner Glass had the other goal for the Canucks (13-11-0), winners in three of their last four games.

Conversely, the Kings (14-10-2) have lost three of four.

"Our decisions through the neutral zone were not good," acknowledged Kings forward Anze Kopitar, now scoreless in eight straight games yet still tied for the NHL lead in points with 33.

"We didn't get the puck in deep and they're a good counter team. They made us pay."

Wellwood finally paid dividends for the Canucks with an empty-netter with six seconds remaining, his first goal this season and first in 23 games dating back to last season when the crafty centre scored a career-high 18.

"Tonight was my first game with a wood blade and I ended up getting a couple of points," said Wellwood, struggling to regain past form since sitting out four games with a broken toe.

Health has been an issue all season with an alarming number of Canucks shelved at one point or another — be it netminder Roberto Luongo (rib) or skaters Alex Bolduc (shoulder), Michael Grabner (ankle), Jannik Hansen (hand), Ryan Johnson (concussion), Sami Salo (knee), Daniel Sedin (foot) and Wellwood.

But with the exception of Pavol Demitra (shoulder), who has yet to play once, the Canucks appear to be near full strength as they approach an arduous stretch of 18 games in 36 nights.

"It was one of my best games this year," claimed Luongo, sidelined six games with a hairline rib fracture earlier this season.

"They had a few chances, especially in the second period. I was seeing the puck well and it's something to build off of."

"We weren't good at all [in the second] and he kept us in," Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault noted of Luongo. "In the third period, we were able to get our rhythm back and generate a lot of chances and we found a way to beat their goaltender."

Luongo posted 31 stops, notably a larcenous glove save on Teddy Purcell early in the second.

Purcell pounced on an errant clearing pass in the Vancouver zone, broke in alone and deked Luongo to the forehand, only to watch him reach back and snare the puck with his trapper at the goal-line.

"He [Purcell] was asking me if it was in or not and I said, 'Whether it is in or not you cannot give it back after an effort like that,'" Luongo recalled. "I made the first move and was out of position, but sometimes when you're out of position you've got to try to put an arm or a leg out."

'I'm going back to what I do best'

Luongo's sprawling save on Purcell was upheld on video review and retained a slim 1-0 lead provided by the snakebitten Burrows 7:35 into the contest.

Henrik Sedin won a faceoff to Quick's left, and Burrows made a bee-line to the net to redirect Daniel Sedin's backdoor pass for his fifth goal of the season.

Burrows, reportedly recovered from a nagging groin pull, hadn't scored since Nov. 5, when he potted an empty-netter in a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild.

"I'm going back to what I do best, getting them [the Sedin twins] the puck and go to the net and try to get on the forecheck," he said.

Los Angeles pressed to equalize and was rewarded when a pass from Randy Jones caromed off Scott Parse's skate to Wayne Simmonds and he lifted it into the net for the tying goal with 43 seconds left in the second period.

"I just kept pressing. I think, as a team, that's what we did as a whole," Simmonds said. "I knew if I didn't get that up quick, it wasn't going in."

After Henrik Sedin restored Vancouver's lead 3:54 into the third, Glass tucked a rebound under Quick to make it 3-1 at the 7:18 mark.

"It's unfortunate," Kings head coach Terry Murray said. "Both goaltenders played very well here tonight.

"I felt bad for Quick at the end of the game. He made some big stops."

Quick faced 33 shots in defeat.

With files from The Canadian Press