Ryan Smyth's goal off Canucks defenceman Christian Ehrhoff put the brakes on a Vancouver rally and sent the Los Angeles Kings to a 5-3 home win Monday in Game 3 of their Western quarter-final series.

The sixth-seeded Kings lead No. 3 Vancouver two games to one, with Game 4 in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The first NHL playoff game in L.A. in eight years looked like it might be a rout for the home team when the Kings scored four straight goals — the first three courtesy of their sizzling power play — to take a commanding 4-1 lead midway through the second and chase Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo from the game.

But Vancouver's Mikael Samuelsson answered before the intermission with his fourth goal of the playoffs, and Daniel Sedin made it 4-3 early in the third — a little more than a minute after his apparent goal was disallowed by video-replay officials who determined he kicked the puck in.

Sedin was driving to the net when the puck slid towards him, hit his right skate and slipped past the goal line.

Mike Murphy, the NHL's vice-president of hockey operations, explained the decision to nix the goal after the game on Hockey Night in Canada.

"When we looked at this one, we thought that the puck was moving in one direction, and in order to get it to move back in the other direction, it had to be propelled some way," Murphy said.

"It wasn't a deflection, it wasn't a redirect. It was a kick."

The coaches' takes on the play were predictable.

"I think it was a good goal," Canucks bench boss Alain Vigneault said

"It looked like a kick to me," said Kings coach Terry Murray.

Luongo shaken up, then yanked

Vancouver had all the momentum approaching the halfway point of the third period, until Smyth fired a slapshot from the left wing that struck Ehroff's skate, switched directions and eluded a helpless Andrew Raycroft.

The Canucks' backup stopped the six other shots he faced in relief in his first playoff action since 2004, during his rookie-of-the-year season with Boston.

Luongo was beaten on four of 16 attempts — and was shaken up when a leaping Smyth landed skate-first on his glove hand — before getting the hook from Vigneault.

"I'm already focused on the next game," Luongo said later.

Mason Raymond scored 2:09 into the game to give Vancouver a short-lived early lead, before L.A. stormed back by converting all three of its power-play chances. Drew Doughty and Michal Handzus, who notched two straight, had the goals, and Brad Richardson's even-strength marker put the Kings up 4-1 and ended Luongo's night.

Doughty assisted on three goals, as did fellow defenceman Jack Johnson, and Jonathan Quick made 25 saves for L.A.

Vancouver finished 0-for-4 on the power play, leaving defenceman Sami Salo to lament his team's disadvantage in that department against the Kings, who have converted an incredible seven of 12 chances in the series.

"The only thing they had was the power play," Salo said. "I think we dominated the game 5-on-5, so we have to dig in tomorrow and figure out our penalty kill, because it's costing us games."

Doughty, meanwhile, was brimming with confidence.

"I think we match up really well against Vancouver," said the superb second-year defenceman. "Obviously they're a great team. They finished in third place. But if we keep playing the way we did tonight, we should win the series."