CALL IT THE PHENOMENON ON FIGUEROA KINGS SCORE 4 GOALS IN LESS THAN 9 MINUTES TO WIN IN OT KINGS 4, DETROIT 3.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

The Kings, six minutes away from almost-certain playoff banishment, instead pulled off one of the most memorable wins in franchise playoff history Wednesday.

Eric Belanger scored less than three minutes into overtime as the Kings rallied from a late three-goal deficit to stun the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in Game 4 of their first-round series in front of 18,478 at Staples Center.

The victory sends the Kings back to Detroit on Saturday for Game 5 with tremendous momentum and the series tied at two games each.

``I knew we were going to win,'' Luc Robitaille said. ``I knew we were going to get our breaks eventually and we finally did. For some reason, I just knew.

``Good teams finish it, and before we started overtime, we said, 'Let's finish it.' ''

The Kings finished it 2 minutes, 36 seconds into overtime, when Ian Laperriere controlled the puck just to the right side of the Detroit net and managed to work it in front to Belanger, who raised the water bottle off the top of goalkeeper Chris Osgood's net. The wild celebration was confirmed by a review by the goal judge.

``It was a (line) change and Adam Deadmarsh was still on the ice and he made a great play from the corner and (Laperriere) tipped it in front,'' Belanger said. ``I don't think the Red Wings saw me coming from the bench. I just picked up the puck and put it in.''

But the real miracle came in regulation. The Kings were six minutes away from a 3-1 series deficit, which has only been overcome 16 times in 161 series in NHL history.

The Red Wings led 3-0 into the third period on power-play goals by Pat Verbeek, Steve Duchesne and Vyacheslav Kozlov, and with Osgood sparkling in goal, Detroit appeared well on its way to victory.

Scott Thomas' power-play goal with 6:07 remaining gave the Kings some life, and when Jozef Stumpel stuck the puck just inside Osgood's pad with 2:37 to go, a small chance appeared for the Kings.

``We knew we had to score to get the crowd in the game and that's what happened,'' Belanger said. ``After the third period we believed in ourselves and we knew we were going to get that (overtime) goal.''

The Kings continued to buzz around the net after Stumpel's goal and pulled goalkeeper Felix Potvin with just over a minute to play. With 53 seconds to play, Bryan Smolinski took the puck, turned and fired what appeared to be a blind shot, which beat Osgood.

``Once we got that first one, everybody felt we could come back,'' Smolinski said. ``We just needed a little jump start. We got it from Scott Thomas tonight.''

In regard to his goal, Smolinski said: ``We've been having a tough time getting it upstairs on him. I knew he wasn't in position and if I got it on net, good things were going to happen.''

Detroit coach Scotty Bowman refused to speak to the media after the game and will receive a $10,000 fine from the league, but Kings coach Andy Murray had no such problems.

``I'm not really into worrying about any of our problems right now,'' Murray said. ``I'm celebrating an overtime victory right now.''

The internal demons that haunted the Kings in Detroit last week were a few days late arriving in Los Angeles, but they almost buried the home team Wednesday night.

A slumbering group of penalty killers, a powerless power-play unit and poor defensive play in their own zone marked the first two periods.

For all that they did wrong Wednesday, the Kings did manage to play with an up-tempo, aggressive style for much of the game, but Osgood thwarted almost every scoring chance.

It's no coincidence that when the Red Wings were at their best in Game 4, so was Osgood. As Detroit scored two power-play goals in the second period to lead 3-0, Osgood thwarted several attempts by the Kings to get back in the game by sprawling all over the goal crease to knock the puck away.

Potvin couldn't match Osgood's excellence, but none of the three goals he allowed came off clean shots.

Verbeek scored the first period's only goal when he flipped the puck in from behind the net off the back of Potvin's pads. Former Kings castoff Duchesne scored on a five-on-three advantage when he took the puck straight off the face-off and beat a surprised Potvin low and to his right.

Vyacheslav Kozlov was credited with the third goal, when his pass, intended for Martin Lapointe in front of the net, deflected off Kings defenseman Aaron Miller and into the net. All three were power-play goals.

The Kings finally ended an ominous streak by scoring on their sixth power-play attempt when Thomas scored. They had not scored in the playoffs with the man advantage in 16 attempts in this series, and 50 attempts dating back three years to a first-round series against St. Louis.

The Kings started the game with the same aggressive style that led to the Game 3 victory, but trouble spots were evident early, particularly by turnovers in their own defensive zone. Once the Kings managed to get the puck into the Detroit zone, however, they put good pressure on Osgood in the game's opening minutes.

Three minutes into the game, Osgood slid across the crease to make the save on a Belanger shot, the first of three strong chances for the Kings in the first five minutes. With Stumpel and Verbeek already in the penalty box on coincidental roughing penalties, Detroit took the early momentum on a scramble in front of the net with six minutes left in the period. Potvin deflected away Nicklas Lidstrom's shot from the point, and as players crowded the crease, Verbeek picked up the puck just behind the net and put it in the net off the pads of a prone Potvin to make it 1-0.

As has become typical for the Kings in this series, the tone of the game changed significantly once the Red Wings took the lead, and it didn't help that defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky left the game with an arm injury midway through the period and did not return.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Red Wings' Jiri Fischer, left, puts the hit on Ian Laperriere during the Kings' dramatic 4-3 overtime victory Wednesday at Staples Center.

(2) The Kings' Glen Murray, center, has a hard time getting past the Red Wings' Nicklas Lidstrom, left, and Todd Gill.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

Box: (1) EASTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF GLANCE

(2) WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFF GLANCE