Roberto Luongo returns as Canucks play the Kings

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      Veteran goalie Roberto Luongo has missed the last three Canucks games with a lower-body injury.

      But he'll be back between the pipes tonight in Los Angeles in an important match-up with the Kings.

      Vancouver is in fourth place with 53 points in 42 games.

      It leaves the Canucks a point behind Los Angeles in the ultracompetitive Pacific Division.

      "If I wasn't 100 percent, I wouldn't be playing tonight," Luongo told reporters.

      The Canucks went 1-1-1, including a shootout loss against Philadelphia, over the last three games without Luongo.

      He last played on December 22 when he left the game late in the first period against the Winnipeg Jets.

      "The older you get, the wiser you get, I guess," Luongo said. "I really didn't want to come out, but sometimes you've got to think bigger picture. That's what I did."

      He explained that he felt pain "grabbing me" every time he did a certain movement.

      Because this was occurring early in the game against the Jets, he said he didn't want to try to play through it to the end.

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