Power play gives L.A. Kings a 2-1 series lead over Vancouver Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks came out in a mood to bang around the L.A. Kings.

But in the end, the Kings' power play made the difference for the second consecutive game in their Western Conference quarter-final series as the Canucks went down to a 5-3 defeat.

Canuck Mason Raymond opened the scoring at 2:09 of the first period, assisted by Ryan Kesler and Mikael Samuelsson.

The Kings followed with three unanswered power play goals between 11:00 of the first period and 12:18 of the second period. Drew Doughty scored the first, evening the score in the first period, followed by two by Michael Handzus in the second period.

After Brad Richardson scored for the Kings at 13:21 of the second period giving his team a 4-1 lead, Canuck coach Alain Vigneault pulled goalie Roberto Luongo, substituting him with Andrew Raycroft.

That seemed to breathe some life into the Canucks, who made it 4-2 just over a minute later on Samuelsson's fourth goal of the series.

Early in the third period, it appeared as though the Canucks had narrowed the margin to one goal when a puck went into the Kings' net off the skate of Daniel Sedin. However after a long delay, officials ruled that it was kicked in and the goal was disallowed.

At 4:18 of the third period, Daniel Sedin scored one that counted on a wrist shot from the point. But at 9:21, Ryan Smith stalled the Canucks' momentum by scoring on a slap shot from the left side, which deflected off a Canuck defender behind Raycroft.

The Canucks maintained good pressure through the rest of the third period but were unable to beat Kings goalie Jonathan Quick.

The Kesler-Raymond-Samuelsson line was plus two on the night, with each player posting two points. For the Kings, Doughty had a goal and three assists, and another Kings defenceman, Jack Johnson, had three assists.

The series resumes on Wednesday (April 21) in Los Angeles with game four at 7 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

Raycroft put in a solid performance, stopping six of seven shots, likely making some fans wonder if Luongo deserves to start game four.