Are Kings struggling with system issues?

A few days ago, in his discussion about Jonathan Quick, Darryl Sutter talked about tweaks he has made to the Kings’ system, tweaks that have defensemen challenging opposing forwards a bit differently than they did under Terry Murray. To put it simply, the defense is trying to be more proactive and less reaction, less of a “contain’’ attitude and more of engaging and trying to influence the movement of puck-handlers. The Kings are scoring more of late, but they’re also giving up more goals and, seemingly, having an increased number of defensive breakdowns. Matt Greene said the defensive breakdowns are not attributable to Sutter’s changes.

GREENE: “No. He’s not doing anything that we haven’t seen over the course of our entire lives. When you’re at this level, it shouldn’t matter what system you’re playing. You’ve played everything, coming up to this point, so you should be able to adjust and you should be able to adapt to it. All our forwards, first through fourth line, and all our D-men have played. The things that he’s telling us are going to help us win games. It’s not foreign to anybody.’’

Question: So when those little defensive breakdowns take place…

GREENE: “It’s all on us. There’s nobody to blame for it.’’

I also asked Quick about any differences he has noticed, since Sutter’s initial comments were in the context of the fact that Quick is facing shots from different angles and in different situations…

QUICK: “For the most part, they’re hockey plays. You’re just trying to make reads. No matter what kind of system we have in place, there’s going to be chances where your team needs you to make a save. You’re just playing hockey out there. Wherever the shot comes from, that’s where it comes from.’’