VANCOUVER - Playing in their first playoff game since 2002, the Los Angeles Kings fell 3-2 in overtime to the Vancouver Canucks in the opening game of the Western Conference quarterfinals.

Vancouver’s Mikael Samuelsson scored his second goal of the game at the 8:52 mark of the overtime period to life the Canucks to victory in front of the home fans at GM Place.

Samuelsson’s first goal of the game tied the score at 1-1 after Los Angeles’ Jarret Stoll gave the Kings the lead at the start of the second period.

Roughly five minutes after Samuelsson’s first goal, Daniel Sedin gave the Canucks their first lead of the game on a backhanded goal. However, Fredrik Modin scored on the power play to even the score at 2-2.

“I thought we played good,” Kings coach Terry Murray told LAKings.com’s Rich Hammond. “I liked the way we played. Coming into this building, with the young group of guys that we have, and a lot of inexperience – we have some veterans who have been here before – and especially in a Canadian market there’s a lot of energy and emotion in the building.”

Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick stopped 41 of 44 shots, while Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo made 27 saves.

VANCOUVER - Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar scored a power-play goal in overtime as the Kings turned the table on the Vancouver Canucks, winning 3-2 in overtime.

After the Canucks defeated the Kings by the identical score in Game 1, the Kings earned a split on the road to even the Western Conference quarterfinals series at one game apiece.

In the overtime period, the Canucks were called for a penalty for too many men on the ice, giving the Kings a man advantage which Kopitar capitalized on.

“The first shot, I took a one-timer and I think (Vancouver’s Ryan) Kesler blocked it,” Kopitar told LAKings.com’s Rich Hammond. “Then I was just trying to get it on net the second time, and it just went off (Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo’s stick) knob and went in.”

The Canucks built a 2-0 lead in the first period with two quick goals. Steve Bernier scored the first goal, and two minutes later Mikael Samuelsson scored the second one.

In the second period, the Kings showed their ability to score quickly as well with Fredrik Modin and Wayne Simmonds scoring within 35 seconds to even the score.

“We’ve been in that situation many times before,” Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick told LAKings.com’s Rich Hammond. “It wasn’t the first time that we’ve been down a couple goals. We said the same thing we’ve said all year, play like it’s 0-0.”

Quick made 26 saves while Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo stopped 29 of 32 shots.

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Kings continued their stellar play on the power play, scoring three goals with the man advantage en route to a 5-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks to move ahead 2-1 in the Western Conference quarterfinals.

After Vancouver’s Mason Raymond gave the Canucks the early 1-0 lead in the first period, the Kings scored four consecutive goals – three on the power play – to take control of the game. With the three power-play goals – one by Drew Doughty and two by Michal Handzus – the Kings improved to 7-for-12 in the series.

“We’ve been working on it a lot in practice and we’ve been watching a lot of video,” Doughty told LAKings.com’s Rich Hammond. “When you’re seeing the other team’s penalty kills, and you’re seeing their flaws, you kind of open those up. We’ve been working on it every day, so I think that’s why.”

Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick was solid in goal again, stopping 25 of 28 shots. Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo stopped 12 of 16 shots before being pulled in favor of Andrew Raycroft.

“Obviously they are going to be better next game, and we have to be better too,” Handzus told LAKings.com’s Rich Hammond. “It is the playoffs, so you play with a lot of inspiration. We do not want to get scored on. It was not perfect, but we will take a win. That is the most important thing. We got a win and we just have to keep going.”

LOS ANGELES - With the opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 series lead, the Los Angeles Kings could not close it out in the third period, falling 6-4 to the Vancouver Canucks.

The Kings entered the third period with a 3-2 lead, and based on the fact that the Kings were 29-0-2 in games in which when they led after two periods during the regular season, they seemed in prime position to win.

Yet the Canucks scored four goals, including an empty-net goal, to even the series at two games apiece.

“That’s a third period that we wanted to avoid against them, but I think they showed us what they can do, and now we’ve got to learn from that, and respect it, and come back the next game with a way to slow them down a little bit,” Los Angeles’ Matt Greene told LAKings.com’s Rich Hammond.

Vancouver’s Sami Salo scored a power-play goal at the 12:16 mark of the third period to give the Canucks their first lead of the game. However, Los Angeles’ Wayne Simmonds tied the game at 4-4 a little over a minute later to send the STAPLES Center crowd into a frenzy.

Yet it was short –lived as Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin scored the game-winning goal at 17:08 of the third period.

“I can give Vancouver credit,” Kings coach Terry Murray told LAKings.com’s Rich Hammond. “Their best player stepped up at a critical time and made a big play. When you have a lead going into the third period, you’ve got to be able to nail that thing down.”

VANCOUVER - After four close games, the Vancouver Canucks routed the Los Angeles Kings 7-2 to take a 3-2 series lead in the Western Conference quarterfinals.

Vancouver’s Steve Bernier and Mikael Samuelsson each scored twice as the Canucks moved to within one game of eliminating the Kings from the playoffs. Former-King Pavol Demitra, Daniel Sedin and Alexander Edler scored the other goals for Vancouver.

Michael Handzus and Fredrik Modin scored the lone two goals for the Kings.

“At this point of the year, regardless of whether you lose 7-2 or 3-2, it’s not what we wanted,” Los Angeles’ Dustin Brown told LAKings.com’s Rich Hammond. “We didn’t have a lot of things tonight, but we can’t sit here and analyze or feel bad for ourselves or dwell on it. We have a game in two days, and if we win it we’re right back where we are right now. So that’s our attitude.”

Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick was pulled and then put back into the game, stopping a total of 21 of 26 shots. Erik Ersberg allowed two goals on four shots. Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo made 24 saves.

“The big difference (from previous games) is that our goaltending was giving us some big stops,” Kings coach Terry Murray told LAKings.com’s Rich Hammond. “You can’t sugar-coat that. The goaltending wasn’t good enough here tonight. He had a tough night. I think we screened some of those shots that were coming through. I think there were a couple that were deflected. We’ve got to be better in front of him, and he has to be better himself.”

LOS ANGELES - The Vancouver Canucks won their third consecutive game – this one a 4-2 victory – to eliminate the Los Angeles Kings from the playoffs.

Just like in Game 4, the Kings entered the third period with the lead yet could not hold on to win. Kevin Bieksa tied the game two minutes into the period and Daniel Sedin scored the game-deciding goal with just over two minutes remaining in the game.

Alexander Frolov and Drew Doughty scored for the Kings.

“I felt we played good tonight,” Doughty told LAKings.com’s Rich Hammond. “We outshot them [32-22] and I thought we played good all around. Obviously they got that goal late…Overall, it was a pretty good game for us, and I thought we had a good series. It’s unfortunate, obviously, that we’re done now, but overall I think we’re pretty happy with our season.”

Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick made 18 saves on 21 shots, while Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo made 30 saves.

“The team played great,” Quick told LAKings.com’s Rich Hammond. “They battled hard all series. That’s a very good Canucks team over there. We played well for six games. Obviously it’s not the outcome we wanted, but we’ve got some time to reflect on the season and start getting ready for next year.”