LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Felix Potvin of old showed up for the Vancouver Canucks.

Potvin, also known as "The Cat," made 40 saves Tuesday night as the Canucks played to a 1-1 tie with the Los Angeles Kings.

"We felt that if we gave Felix a really secure and excellent environment that he would perform very well," coach Marc Crawford said of Potvin, acquired Dec. 19 from the New York Islanders.

"We knew that if we stayed with him and were patient with him, he would give us what we so sorely needed -- a guy who could give us consistent goaltending and be a No. 1 goalie," Crawford said.

Potvin, who has only 11 wins this season, improved to 6-7-4 with the Canucks. He stopped all 35 shots he faced in the second and third periods in his eighth start since returning from a knee injury.

It appeared to the Kings and the Staples Center crowd that he was in a zone, but Potvin didn't see it that way.

"I don't think you feel anything like that," he said. "You just try to focus on the puck because all it takes in a game like this is one shot to beat you. But as you stop more and more shots, of course you feel more and more comfortable back there."

Since his rookie season of 1993-93 season with Toronto, when he had the league's best goals-against-average, Potvin has only been under 2.80 once and over 3.00 in two of three seasons.

He was traded to the Islanders last season, before being moved to Vancouver.

"He's been through a lot of changes in his life -- what with leaving Toronto and moving his family three times," Crawford said. "In the space of a year he had a lot of turmoil in his life. And it's going to take anybody a while to adjust to that."

Jason Strudwick scored his first NHL goal for Vancouver and Ziggy Palffy answered for the Kings. Los Angeles failed twice to capitalize on two-man advantages -- one lasting 58 seconds in the first period and the other for 1:06 of the second.

Alexander Mogilny returned to the Vancouver lineup after missing eight games with an injured shoulder. The Canucks are winless in eight road games (0-6-2) against the Kings since April 6, 1996.

Strudwick, who scored 15 goals in 312 minor-league games, got his first NHL score in his 139th game. He tied it with 29 seconds left in the opening period, shortly after the Canucks killed off a power play.

Strudwick made his debut with the Islanders in 1996.

Todd Bertuzzi backhanded a pass from the left circle toward the slot and the puck fluttered in the air to Strudwick. He gloved it, dropped it at his skates and sidestepped defenseman Mattias Norstrom before beating Stephane Fiset from 20 feet.

Fiset had 32 saves.

The Kings scored just 84 seconds in, extending their streak to six games with a first-period goal.

Palffy, who did not play Saturday night at San Jose because of back spasms, beat Potvin through the pads from short range for his 25th goal after Luc Robitaille set him up with a pass from behind the net.

The assist extended Robitaille's point-scoring streak to a career-best 14 games, the longest in the NHL this season.