This time, it’s Kings talking about netfront presence

Generally when a team talks about wanting to make life difficult for opposing goaltenders and direct more traffic and bodies in front of an opposing net, it’s a response to a lack of scoring in previous games.

And here we are, with the Kings talking about ways to break through against the Ducks, who have limited their northern rivals to two goals or less in six of nine meetings this season following rookie John Gibson’s Game 4 shutout in his playoff debut. Earlier this series – and in many previous series – Los Angeles’ opponents had accentuated similar efforts in order to get through to Jonathan Quick.

Darryl Sutter on Monday recognized Anaheim’s ability to “keep you to the outside.”

“Our top players are offensive players, and that’s not just forwards. That’s defensemen, too,” Sutter said. “Have to fight through that. I said that yesterday, too. They have to get through that a lot more – the blocking and the interference and the clogging up the front of the net. We have to do a better job of that in order to score goals. There’s not many goals scored in the regular season and now in the playoffs that don’t have a screen or don’t have a tip or a rebound-type situation. We have to do a better job of that.”

For two evenly matched teams, when there’s a will to drive to the net and embed oneself in high-tension areas, there is often a breakthrough.

“I think at this point in the season, it comes down to how much you want it,” Justin Williams said. “There are eight teams that are pretty evenly matched here. At this time of year, it’s a battle. You played your butt off to get in the playoffs, you won the first round. Now you can see teams that are left and there is really no huge discrepancy between them. I feel a lot of who is going to win, is going to come down to will and ultimately who wants it more.”

The two-time Stanley Cup winner spoke highly of the goaltender who pitched a shutout in the teams’ last outing but didn’t seem to preoccupied with who counters Los Angeles in net.

“Obviously he seems like he’s going to be a great goalie for years to come, but let’s not anoint him yet,” Williams said. “This is a playoff series and a lot goes into it and we’re going to put our pedal down tonight and see what happens.”