Kings Deal Way Into Crazy 8th : Hockey: Todd scores twice in 5-1 victory over Red Wings that puts them in the final playoff spot in Western Conference.

Since the Kings’ 5-1 victory against the NHL’s best team, Detroit, was so one-sided and so unexpected, perhaps it made sense that the offense came from unusual sources at the Forum on Tuesday night.

Leading the Kings to their first victory in nine games were not the usual suspects. Instead it was checking center Kevin Todd who stole the offensive spotlight with three points: two goals--his second and third of the season and first since Feb. 11--and one assist.

And after a decidedly sub-par game on Sunday, center Robert Lang stirred with his first goal since Feb. 25, a 21-game personal drought. Even enforcer Troy Crowder found his range, scoring his first goal since the 1990-91 season when he was with New Jersey.

“When guys like Troy Crowder are scoring, when their third and fourth lines are scoring, you know we’re in trouble,” Detroit’s Sergei Fedorov said.

It was the Kings’ first victory since April 6 against Dallas and stopped a long winless streak, which had grown to 0-6-2.

All this meant that the Kings (14-21-9) nudged ahead of the crowd into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Elsewhere, the Kings got some help from the Oilers as Edmonton defeated the Jets, 5-3, in Winnipeg. With the victory, Edmonton moved into ninth place with 36 points, one point behind the Kings.

San Jose was unable to gain any ground in the playoff race, losing, 3-2, to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, but the Sharks have a game in hand on the rest of the pack. The Sharks, the Jets and the Mighty Ducks all are two points behind the Kings.

“We had a good team effort,” said King president and interim coach Rogie Vachon, who is 1-0-2 since taking over after Barry Melrose was fired on Friday.

“Our confidence is picking up. It’s not quite there but it’s getting there. We need some more wins if we want to make the playoffs.”

Said Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman: “We didn’t play that bad. They got ahead and capitalized on their scoring chances.”

A note of concern developed for the Kings when defenseman Rob Blake suffered a slightly pulled groin that limited his play in the third period. Blake has suffered from the ailment almost all season. It is uncertain whether he will miss any of the remaining four games.

The Kings, who won only their sixth of 23 home games this season, were kept in it early by goaltender Kelly Hrudey, who faced 31 shots. Hrudey, making his first start since April 17, faced a great deal of offensive pressure in the first period but held off the likes of Fedorov and Steve Yzerman.

Hrudey is the reason the Kings are in the playoff race. So it was perhaps fitting that he was the one to help them climb back into a playoff spot. His bid for career shutout No. 17 ended at 7:31 of the third period when former King defenseman Paul Coffey scored his 14th goal of the season with a blast from the point. For Coffey, it was his team-leading 52nd point.

Vachon noticed a difference in his team on Tuesday.

“We played a really solid game for three periods,” he said. “Sometimes we go through periods of 10 minutes when we need a goalie or else we are out of it. But everybody was ready on the bench.”

The intent behind playing the Crowder-Todd-Gary Shuchuk line was to slow the line of Shawn Burr, Keith Primeau and Dino Ciccarelli. And it worked as Primeau went pointless and was a minus-four with no shots.

But Vachon never expected the line would generate so much offense.

“There should have been desperation in our play,” Primeau said. “Because they’re a team we could play in the first round.”

King Notes

General Manager Sam McMaster left on Monday for a scouting trip to the World Championships in Stockholm and will miss the final four games. . . . Detroit forward and former King Mike Krushelnyski was hit in the face by a puck and suffered a broken nose in the second period.