[0] THEY DUG DEEP, BUT IT WASN'T PRETTY.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

They're rolling, surging by the pack, climbing into first.

They're sliding, falling back to the pack, threatening to let the whole season slip away.

These are your Los Angeles Kings, coming around the bend, heading for home. It's one wild stretch run. Streaking in a six-game winning streak, struggling in a five-game winless stretch.

The Kings knew they needed to right this thing now, to regain control. So what team did the NHL serve Thursday night for the Kings to turn it around against?

The Detroit Red Wings.

By far, the best team in the NHL this season. A team so good, it is already assured of finishing with the best record in the league. And one still smarting from being upset in the playoffs last year by the Kings.

``It's perfect that it's Detroit,'' Kings coach Andy Murray maintained beforehand, ``because it's going to demand full attention to detail and make sure we bring our game back to have a chance.''

It's perfect if you win. Perfect if you play smart, intense, scrappy, season-on-the-line hockey. Perfect if you get it together as the Kings did in their 3-0 victory over the Red Wings.

The victory lifted the Kings into a tie for fifth with Phoenix in the Western Conference, with nine teams bunched up so tightly for the final seven playoff spots they've memorized each other's scars.

This is how it's going to be now. Two weeks left and nothing will come easily. Five games to prove to yourself you are the team that was playing some of the best hockey in the league for two months, and not the one that faded the past five games.

``It's really like no other season I've seen in my 14 years in the league,'' Kings defenseman Mathieu Schneider said. ``The race is so tight right down to the end.

``It's like the playoffs right now. There's no other way to describe it. It's really the first time something like this has happened in the NHL.''

With the Kings struggling and matched against the best team in the league, Murray figured most weren't expecting them to turn in a spirited effort like Thursday's against the Red Wings. They're penciling in a loss, zero points.

``This sends a message that we're not just going to go away,'' Murray said. ``We're going to fight and battle. If you're going to beat us, you're going to have to earn it.''

It hadn't appeared that way since the Kings defeated the Sharks on March 23 and briefly took over first in the West. Then came a four-game game trip that netted three losses and a tie, and what could have proven a disastrous, demoralizing tie to Vancouver when the Kings returned Tuesday to Staples and blew a two-goal lead in the final three minutes.

``A big key to our success for most of the year has been the energy level and the work ethic we played with throughout the season,'' Schneider said. ``We had a stretch there on that road trip where it just seemed we didn't have the legs. Especially those first two games, we were just burnt out. We weren't the same team we were for the last four months.''

Suddenly their penalty-killing unit, which had been the best in the league, kept surrendering goals. Goalie Felix Potvin and the defense struggled, the Kings having allowed 19 goals in the five games.

They fell into a tie for the final playoff spot. Nervous time at Staples. In a season of digging deep, it was time to go deeper, to find yet another reservoir of will.

``It's not good enough at this time of the year to come back into the dressing room and say, 'I played pretty good,' '' Murray said. ``Pretty good just doesn't cut it right now. I don't want to hear the pretty anymore. I want to hear the good.

``And if you think you can be good by playing pretty, you're making a mistake, too. So let's get pretty out of the equation altogether.''

The Red Wings had played the night before and were probably pretty tired. Still, the Kings were renewed. After allowing almost four goals in each of their past five games, they shut out the highest-scoring team in the NHL. Potvin made several brilliant saves.

The mental letdown that had been feared, faded away. The seed of doubt, pushed back for another night.

``This stops the bleeding,'' center Jason Allison said.

It figures to be a wild final two weeks. A wild playoffs. The Kings were up for the challenge Tuesday. They had their legs, and again, control.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

The Kings' Adam Deadmarsh battles Detroit's Jiri Fischer for the puck in the first period Thursday. Deadmarsh was called for a hooking penalty.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

Box:

WESTERN STANDINGS