Call for scoring on the left side sounded again

Darryl Sutter spoke about the opportunities presenting themselves for the club’s left wings yesterday, saying that in Tanner Pearson’s absence, “our left wingers are Gaborik, King, Clifford, Andy, and you just go through your left wings, and that’s who you’re pushing up.”

With extra opportunities inherited by the club’s left wings – Sutter said yesterday that King would inherit a good percentage of the allotted minutes – I asked the Kings’ coach what it would mean for Kyle Clifford, who has been valuable as a player who can skate up and down the left side.

More specifically, is there anything in particular that Sutter is looking for from Clifford, who at Wednesday’s morning skate was aligned opposite Justin Williams on Jarret Stoll’s line?

“Yeah, more goals in the second half from our left wing, including him,” Sutter said. “I mean, if you look at it, we are seven, two and one. Take Gabby out of it, and we’ve got seven goals, two goals and one goal, so it’s pretty hard to give guys more minutes if they’re two and one-goal scorers.”

He’s got a point, even though Clifford is on pace for 16 points, which would set a career high. (Sutter also noted in training camp that a more productive season from Clifford was important, while adding in December that he has done “a really good job for us.”)

The seven, two and one Sutter referenced were the goals scored by Dwight King, Clifford and Jordan Nolan (who skates primarily as a right wing). Marian Gaborik, a left wing on Anze Kopitar’s line, has scored a team-high 15.

The call for additional production from the left side has been a refrain used frequently around these parts over the last four years, and given the injury to a player who had potted 12 prior to suffering a broken lower fibula, it’s being used again during an important juncture in the Kings’ season.

Overall, the Kings are averaging 2.72 goals per game, a rate that trails the 2012-13 scoring output by one one-hundredth of a goal as the highest scoring regular season squad under Darryl Sutter. In the five games that both Pearson and Toffoli were sidelined, Los Angeles’ goal totals were two, three, two, one and two.