Greg Cronin, Ducks prepare to host Kings ahead of ‘Freeway Faceoff’ matinee

For those who didn’t get enough quarreling from their in-laws at the dinner table Thursday, Friday will bring a matinee edition of the Freeway Faceoff with the rival Ducks and Kings squaring off at Honda Center.

There might be more of a Festivus feel inside the arena, where there will no doubt be both feats of strength and the airing of grievances between the Expansion Six city dwellers and the 90s babies from Orange County.

“I’m really looking forward to the Ducks-Kings clash; we’re now 30 years into it. The Kings have been around for 60, and we’re relatively new compared to that. Demographically, it’s a different fanbase as well,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said via phone. “That’s what makes sports so passionate and so fun, when you have these rivalries.”

Cronin has seen his share of intense grudge matches, growing up in Boston during the height of the hostility between the Bruins and Canadiens in the 1970s before coaching in Toronto and on Long Island as an NHL assistant.

“The Islanders and the Rangers was a huge rivalry, huge! You had the city people in Manhattan that had a real historical relationship with the Rangers, and they looked at the Islanders like a stepchild, like these misfits on Long Island,” Cronin said.

“There was a lot of energy and antagonism and a lot of hatred between those two fanbases. There were fights in the stands,” Cronin continued. “That might have been the peak of [animosity], because New York is a very high-energy, combustible place, right?”

North of the border, the Maple Leafs-Canadiens feud was longer-standing and decidedly more political, but also noticeably more polite overall.

“The Toronto-Montreal series, the Original Six, French versus English, that’s a deep-rooted rivalry as well. But I think, stereotypically, Canadians are a little less combustible than New Yorkers,” Cronin said.

While it may be the first time Cronin experiences the atmosphere of a Ducks-Kings showdown in person, he’s seen plenty of the Kings on film. They have enmeshed a high-octane offense with a vastly improved penalty kill to ascend the Pacific Division standings, while the Ducks have lost four straight contests to sink below .500.

The Kings have captured three straight games and earned points in nine of their past 10. They’ve catapulted from 24th last season to second in the NHL in penalty kill percentage this year behind Boston. They also rank second in goals per game, narrowly trailing Vancouver, while giving up the fourth fewest goals per game in the league.

“I’ve seen them enough to know how good they are, they’re a really, really good team,” Cronin said.

While the Kings’ scoring potency has largely been a realization of potential, their penalty kill’s about face has required creativity from Kings assistant coach Trent Yawney and his penalty killers, who added veteran Trevor Lewis back to their mix. Lewis and Blake Lizotte, who missed a 4-1 win over Arizona Monday with an undisclosed injury and should be considered doubtful for Friday, have helped buoy new No. 1 goalie Cam Talbot and an existent group that’s adjusted swimmingly to a new system.

“The staff brought us a new strategy this year, they did their work over the summer to prepare and it’s worked out, their work paid off,” Phillip Danault told reporters. “It was our turn to apply it on the ice and we’ve done that, we took care of it and we’re proud to do it. We’re proud to block shots, to clear the puck, the goalies have been outstanding. I think there’s a lot of pride, that’s probably the biggest word.”

The Kings will have to twist and contort their way into a second game Saturday afternoon, when they’ll return north on the 5 Freeway to host Danault’s former team, the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs outlasted the Ducks, 4-3, in a sinewy affair Wednesday that saw them lead 2-0 only to be deadlocked late before Alex Newhook’s second goal of the night snapped Montreal’s four-game losing streak.

Danault, Pierre-Luc Dubois and executive Luc Robitaille are all Quebecois, and the Kings recently announced that they’ll play a pair of exhibition games next year in Quebec City on Oct. 3 and Oct. 5.