Kings-Sharks representative of league-wide offensive spike

It’s a “three-two league,” as we’ve all learned from Darryl Sutter.

The 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, as early results have indicated, have gravitated more towards being a four-two league.

Through the 31 games of NHL action entering play Friday night, a total of 181 goals have been scored, which equates to 5.84 goals per game. Across the league during the regular season, 5.34 goals per game were scored – an average that does not count shootout goals. Still, the half a goal per game difference between the playoffs and regular season is a wide discrepancy, though likely an unsustainable gap.

“It’s tough to say, but in the playoffs, everyone just seems to give a little extra effort,” Justin Williams said. “Every play is magnified by guys giving a little bit more and maybe backchecking a little more, creating another opportunity, or just not giving up on pucks, and I think that you’ve seen a lot of that within the playoffs, and you’re seeing a lot of shots to the net, which some are finding their way in.”

The Kings-Sharks series has clearly followed this trend. The NHL’s Jennings Trophy winners have been sucked into a wide open space race instead of the trench warfare generally associated with Los Angeles and many generally stingy Western Conference teams.

An average of 4.47 goals were scored per Kings game this season, and an average of 5.27 goals were scored per Sharks game. And yet the two teams have combined to average 8.5 goals per game through the first four games, with the two teams accounting for three of the league’s five nine-goal combined scores.

“I think they’ve tried to stretch the game out, I feel, by stretching their forwards almost to the far blue at some points, and pushing the puck up the ice as quick as they can. In that aspect, it’s led to a lot more chances against for us that we need to rectify,” Williams said. “But there have been a lot more goals, obviously, than we would’ve anticipated coming in.”

Justin Williams, on the team’s play in Games 3 and 4:
I just think our whole level of play, obviously, has gotten better since the first two games, but we’ve dug ourselves a big hole here to try and get out of, and we’ll see if we can.

Williams, on what makes the SAP Center such a difficult place to play:
It’s loud, and they have confidence in their arena, as they should. They’ve been a great team in there for a decade, at least. When you have confidence, that goes a long way, and we need to try and take that away early, if we can.

Williams, on the team’s established strong road play:
You certainly can’t dwell on the past. Every playoff has its own storyline. I feel every game has its own storyline, too. Anything positive that you can build on that you’ve already accomplished or that you’ve done certainly helps, and the fact that we’ve been able to win on the road quite a bit – we’re comfortable on the road – will bode well because we’re going to need to win two of them.