LOS ANGELES — The Sharks thought they knew exactly which part of their game needed improvement Monday night when they faced the Los Angeles Kings, and events proved them right.

“The focus for us was on special teams, both the power play and the penalty kill. I thought our PK did a real good job and the power play got us a big goal,” forward Dany Heatley said.

Classic understatement. One week after the Kings embarrassed the Sharks at HP Pavilion, San Jose eked out a hard-fought 2-1 victory at the Staples Center. One week after the Sharks penalty kill gave up three goals, the Kings went 0-for-5 on the power play.

And that big power play goal that Heatley referred to? He scored it by batting his own rebound out of the air from just outside the crease for the game-winner. San Jose’s other goal was credited to Dan Boyle while defenseman Randy Jones scored for Los Angeles.

The regulation victory was the Sharks’ first in five tries against the Kings, and much of the credit in the locker room afterward went to goalie Evgeni Nabokov, who stopped 33 of the 34 shots he faced.

Many of the toughest came while the Kings had the man advantage.

So what adjustments did the Sharks make that helped turn things around while short-handed?

“Small ones,” coach Todd McLellan said.

“We just wanted to fine-tune it,” said Scott Nichol, a regular on the penalty kill. “Bottom line is that Nabby was making saves and we were getting down blocking shots.”

The Sharks faced Kings backup goalie Erik Ersberg, not Jonathan Quick, who leads the NHL in minutes played. Ersberg replaced Quick in the Kings’ loss to St. Louis on Saturday night, and coach Terry Murray stuck with Ersberg against the Sharks.

San Jose came up with the only goal of the opening 20 minutes.

With fourth-line forward Brad Staubitz screening Ersberg, a shot from the right point by defenseman Dan Boyle found its way through the five-hole and into the back of the Kings net at 3:54. Originally credited to Staubitz, the goal was later given to Boyle.

“I thought it might have hit me,” Staubitz said. “I would have liked to have it, but who knows?”

Nabokov made two of his biggest saves of the night later in the first period while the Kings were on the power play. Dustin Brown got off a quick shot from point-blank and seconds later the Sharks goalie got his stick on a tricky redirect by Alexander Frolov.

In the second period, high-sticking penalties to Kings defensemen Alec Martinez and Jack Johnson gave San Jose a two-man advantage for 28 seconds. The Kings survived that, but gave up the goal to Heatley with Johnson still in the penalty box at 4:40.

The Sharks’ 2-0 lead lasted only 37 seconds, however.

On the next shift, the rebound of a shot by Alexander Frolov went directly to defenseman Randy Jones all alone in the left faceoff circle, and his 26-foot slap shot was in the Sharks net before Nabokov could get back into position.

In the third period, it was the Sharks who were on the wrong end of 34 seconds of five-on-three play after a tripping call against Boyle and a delay-of-game whistle against Douglas Murray. But Nabokov stopped all three shots he faced while San Jose was two men down.

“They have such a good power play,” said the goalie who won his 25th game of the season. “They always go to the net, they always have shots coming. The penalty kill can win it or sometimes it can lose it for you.”

The Sharks recognized the importance of beating the Kings, considering how the season series had gone so far.

“Tonight in their rink? After a loss at home?” Heatley said. “This was a big one.”

For more on the Sharks, see David Pollak’s Working the Corners blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/sharks. E-mail dpollak@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5940.