Ducks' Perreault relieved to get back in lineup

ANAHEIM -- Anaheim Ducks center Mathieu Perreault is expected to return to the lineup for Game 5 of the Western Conference Second Round series against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night at Honda Center (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, RDS). The best-of-7 series is tied 2-2.

Perreault missed Game 4 with a lower-body injury, but he said it pained him more to have to watch the game.

"It is so hard," Perreault said. "It gets me so nervous. When you play, it's not quite like that, but when you're watching, I can't sit down. I start walking around because I get so nervous. I'd rather be out there playing than watching, that's for sure."

Perreault skated and declared himself ready. His return allows Anaheim to go back to its effective third line of Perreault, left wing Patrick Maroon and right wing Teemu Selanne.

"After a couple of days off, for sure, I felt good today," Perreault said. "I'll be playing with Teemu and Patty again. It will be good."

With so much talk centered on Anaheim rookie goalie John Gibson, who will follow up his 28-save shutout in his Stanley Cup Playoff debut, the Ducks are expecting Kings goalie Jonathan Quick to be particularly stingy after he was removed as a team-wide wake-up call in Game 4.

"He has been unbelievable in this series," Selanne said. "I just wish that he's going to be just a normal human being, and just be a normal goalie, not like a superhero like the first couple of games. But everything is goaltending. When they give you a chance to win the game, you can't ask more than that."

Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau also said he expects a huge challenge against Los Angeles, which outshot the Ducks 19-3 in the final two periods Saturday and still lost.

"We think we need more than three shots in the last two periods," said a deadpan Boudreau.

"Game 5 is the most important game. It always has been. Whether you're down 3-1 or whether it's 2-2. Game 5 is the big game. It really puts the team in a big hole. The team that doesn't have home-ice advantage wants this game so bad so they can win it at home. We believe they'll play their best game of the series."

Los Angeles typically pays little attention to what the opposition does, and again veered from discussion about Gibson.

"It seems like he's going to be a great goalie for years to come, but let's not anoint him yet," right wing Justin Williams said. "This is a playoff series, and a lot goes into it. We're going to put our pedal down tonight and see what happens."

The Kings did not do any line rushes, so it was unknown if coach Darryl Sutter has any changes afoot. The only certainty is that defensemen Robyn Regehr and Willie Mitchell remain out.

Boudreau said he did not have an update on left wing Matt Beleskey or goalie Frederik Andersen but said, "It might be Wednesday for one of them [to be available], but I'm not going to reveal anything else. They've got to get on the ice before they can play."

Right wing Tim Jackman is close to being ready, Boudreau said.

Here are the projected lineups:

KINGS

Marian Gaborik – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams

Tanner Pearson – Mike Richards – Jeff Carter

Dwight King – Jarret Stoll – Dustin Brown

Kyle Clifford – Trevor Lewis – Tyler Toffoli

Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty

Jeff Schultz – Slava Voynov

Alec Martinez – Matt Greene

Jonathan Quick

Martin Jones

Scratched: Colin Fraser, Nick Shore, Scott Sabourin, Brayden McNabb, Andrew Bodnarchuk, Linden Vey, Jordan Weal, Colin Miller, Andy Andreoff, Andrew Campbell, Derek Forbort

Injured: Robyn Regehr (undisclosed), Willie Mitchell (undisclosed)

DUCKS

Devante Smith-Pelly – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry

Andrew Cogliano – Saku Koivu – Jakob Silfverberg

Patrick Maroon – Mathieu Perreault – Teemu Selanne

Daniel Winnik – Nick Bonino – Kyle Palmieri

Cam Fowler – Ben Lovejoy

Hampus Lindholm – Francois Beauchemin

Bryan Allen – Sami Vatanen

John Gibson

Jonas Hiller

Scratched: Rickard Rakell, Mark Fistric, Luca Sbisa

Injured: Tim Jackman (hand), Matt Beleskey (lower body), Frederik Andersen (lower body), Stephane Robidas (leg)