The Kings bounced back on Thursday night in New Jersey after their worst loss of the season. Coming off of a loss in Buffalo by a touchdown, the Kings got back in the win column against the Devils in a low scoring but rather feisty 2-1 game.
The first period went scoreless, but it was evident early that the Kings had gotten back to their game. Aggressive on both ends the ice, the Kings outshot the Devils 13-5 in the opening 20 minutes. Adding to the Kings aggression on Thursday was Viktor Arvidsson, who made his season debut after offseason back surgery. Arvidsson’s night ended pointless, but not from a lack of try as the Swedish forward led the Kings in shots on goal with five. Arvidsson ended the night with 15:43 TOI.
The scoring showed up in the second period as each team traded a goal. Both coming on the special teams, the Kings struck first shorthanded 8:07 into the period when Anze Kopitar followed up a rebound off of an Adrian Kempe contested breakaway. Kopitar’s goal marked the 16th of the season and gave the Kings the one goal lead. Just under five minutes later, a Kings penalty gave the Devils another power play, one of five on the night. There, former two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Kings Tyler Toffoli evened the game with a rebound put-back for his team leading 23rd goal of the season.
Even through 50-plus minutes of regulation, a Pierre-Luc Dubois drawn penalty earned the Kings a fourth power play late in the third period. With 5:37 remaining in the game, Quinton Byfield tipped a Brandt Clarke point shot and followed up on his own rebound to put the Kings ahead 2-1. The Kings stood tall the rest of the way and picked up their second win in the three games under Interim Head Coach Jim Hiller.
In net for the Kings was David Rittich, who stopped 26 of 27 shots. Rittich moves to 7-2-3 on the season.
