In Newark, the visiting Los Angeles got a much better game from their roster on Thursday night then they did in a 7-0 loss to the Sabres earlier in the week. 
They scored a shorthanded goal and power play strike in a 2-1 win over the New Jersey Devils.
David Rittich made 27 saves in the win, atoning for his performance in the Sabres loss.
The Kings moved to 25-16-10.
“If you win the special teams battle, most often you win the game,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. “Because there’s not much else going on 5-on-5, it’s so hard to score. That’s a very dangerous power play so I thought despite giving one up, our penalty kill was really good, and we scored a big power-play goal.”
After a scoreless opening stanza, Anze Kopitar hit for the shorthanded goal at 8:07 of the middle frame for a 1-0 lead to the Kings. The goal came off a rebound of a shot by Adrian Kempe.
New Jersey dropped to 27-22-4, snapping a two-game win streak.
Tyler Toffoli was the lone striker for New Jersey, his goal came at 12:58 of the second off a power play for a 1-1 tie headed to the third period.
“I don’t know if we shot it enough; I think we had opportunities,” Toffoli said. “They did a good job of staying tight and not giving those shot opportunities. We were trying to adjust, and obviously we had one there, but when we have as many power plays as we did, we got to get a couple.”
Quinton Byfield hit off an LA power play at 14:23 to give the Kings a 2-1 lead. He scored off a wrist shot after knocking down a shot from the point for an easy wrister for the win.
“It was a great shot by (defenseman Brandt Clarke from the right point) and I kind of found the puck in traffic, knocked it down, and hit the pad,” Byfield said. “I was able to get on the rebound there.”
Victor Arvidsson made his season debut for the Kings.
“He’s just a ball of fire and plays with a lot of passion,” Hiller said of Arvidsson. “I didn’t know how he was going to do. I knew he would show passion, but I thought he played very well for being off that long, Not only was he energetic, but he was dangerous and looked like he hadn’t missed a beat.”
Nico Daws made 27 saves in the loss.
They played a stingy game and we did as well,” Daws said. “I think it comes down to they got one more bounce and we didn’t get it. You can’t hang your head on that game. I thought we played pretty good.”
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