From Kings to Keystone Kops

Vancouver combined for five points, all coming in the third period, and won, 6-4. The signs the Kings were unraveling were visible while they were leading.

Even before the third-period collapse and before the Sedins took flight and long before the clumsy too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty, the Kings were starting to unravel.

Funny to say, considering they held a 3-2 lead going into the final 20 minutes Wednesday night at Staples Center, but the Kings’ Jarret Stoll saw the not-so-subtle signs.

“The last half of the game we were trading chances with them,” Stoll said. “We weren’t playing our game and getting the puck to the net. We got away from our game.”

The Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel – boosted by an in-game adjustment, gaining Mikael Samuelsson on the their line and losing Alex Burrows – had something to do with it, at both ends.

They combined for five points, all coming in the third period, and the game-winner came from Henrik with just under three minutes remaining.

Notably, too, the Sedins volunteered for penalty-killing duty in the Canucks’ 6-4 victory. Ranks up there with drying dishes and doing taxes. Henrik and Daniel probably do that at home as well.

But Daniel doesn’t see penalty-killing as drudgery.

“Yeah, we always like to do that. During the regular season, they like to keep our legs fresh,” he said, explaining why it doesn’t happen then. “We got a chance and it was good. We killed a few off and it’s a good feeling.”

The Kings are two power-play goals from tying the most they’ve ever had in a playoff series. They had 11 in the Wayne Gretzky Era, scoring 11 in a first-round upset of the Oilers in the 1989 playoffs.

Against the Canucks, they are nine-for-16 in the series, still a dazzling 56.3%.

In the last three games, defensemen Jack Johnson and Drew Doughty have combined for 12 points, and Dustin Brown has assists in all four games of the series.

More historical background: At 2-2 in a series, the Kings have gone on to win it seven of 10 times. Game 5 is Friday at Vancouver.

“We prepared for a seven-game series,” Brown said. “We have to go up there and have that checking mind-set that we’ve had. You’ve just got to forget about this game and move forward. It’s a three-game series now and we’ve got to win one in their barn.”

Times staff writer Helene Elliott contributed to this story

Lisa.dillman@latimes.com

Twitter.com/reallisa