Calgary beat two of the top three teams in the West after finishing in sixth place during the regular season.

The Calgary Flames have defied the odds by getting to the Western Conference Finals, beating two of the top three teams in the West after finishing sixth in the conference during the regular season. Getting to the Finals and actually winning the Stanley Cup will mean defying some historical precedent.

The Flames are trying to become the first team to make the finals after playing a seven-game series in the opening round since the Vancouver Canucks did it in 1994. No team has won the Cup after going the distance in the opening round since Pittsburgh did so in 1992, capping a four-year run in which the team that captured the Cup survived a seven-game scare in the opening round. But only one of those teams-the 1992 Penguins-won the championship after winning the first round in seven games and the second in six, the same numbers as the Flames. In the past 10 years, only the 2001 Devils (13) and the 1994 Canucks (12) have played more than 11 games in the first two rounds and made the Finals.

John Kreiser, who has covered the NHL since 1975, is NHL.com's man behind the numbers. His column appears each weekend on NHL.com. More from Kreiser: Habs on other side of broom Eddie "The Eagle" needs to soar Overtime not Brodeur's time Defining home ice advantage 3/26: By the numbers 3/19: By the numbers 3/12: By the numbers Overtime the right time for Blues No guarantee for postseason success

Should they beat San Jose and advance to the finals, the Flames will become the first team ever to beat all three division winners in the same conference to get there. Anaheim bumped off Dallas and Detroit, the 1-2 finishers in the West, last year; a Flames victory would mean that Calgary would have beaten the top three teams in the same conference, something that's never been done since the current playoff format was adopted in 1987. And should the Flames go on to beat either Tampa Bay or Philadelphia to win the Cup, they'd accomplish another first: No club has ever beaten four 100-point teams in the same playoff year. Only the 1980 New York Islanders and 2000 New Jersey Devils have beaten three 100-point teams in the same year.

Too fast? -- Teams with Cup dreams hope to get through the first two rounds quickly, which means the Tampa Bay Lightning should be happy about getting to the Eastern Conference finals in just nine games, one over the minimum. But since the opening round went to a best-of-seven format in 1987, only two teams -- the 1994 Rangers and 1990 Edmonton Oilers -- have won the Cup after playing only nine games in the first round. The Rangers are the only ones to do it under the current format, in which the top eight teams in each conference make the playoffs. One potential drawback: too much rest -- the Bolts finished off Montreal on April 29 and don't open against the Eastern finals against Philadelphia until May 8.

Nightmare on Broad Street - Philadelphia's 7-2 victory over Toronto in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series was a game the Maple Leafs would love to forget -- especially defenseman Bryan McCabe. The seven goals allowed were the most in the playoffs this season and the most since Vancouver surrendered the same number in a 7-2 loss to Minnesota in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals last May 5. No one has had more than seven since Carolina's 8-3 victory over Montreal in Game 5 of the 2002 Eastern Conference semifinals.

McCabe had a bad game, finishing at minus-5, the worst plus-minus showing by a player in the 21st century.

McCabe had an especially nightmarish game, finishing at minus-5 -- the worst plus-minus showing by a player in the 21st century. (Vancouver's Ed Jovanovski was minus-4 in last year's 7-2 loss to Minnesota).

And the size of the loss wasn't a good omen for the Leafs' hopes in Game 6. No team has surrendered seven or more goals and won its next game in the same series since Dallas beat New Jersey 2-1 in Game 2 of the 2000 Finals, two nights after losing the series opener 7-3.

Hold that lead -- The secret to success in Stanley Cup play is simple -- go into the locker room after two periods with a lead. Through the first two rounds, teams that led after 40 minutes won 50 out of 55 games -- a .909 winning percentage that was even higher than the regular-season figure of .849. And of the five comeback victories, four have come in games that went to overtime. Only Detroit's 3-1 series-opening victory over Nashville in the first round saw a team come from behind after two periods and win in regulation.

Firing blanks -- The Red Wings have gone home for the summer because they were unable to muster any offensive in back-to-back 1-0 losses to the Calgary Flames, who knocked out the Presidents' Trophy winners in their Western Conference semifinal series. The shutouts in Games 5 and 6 marked the first time the Wings have gone without a goal in consecutive playoff games since the 1945 finals, when they were held scoreless in the first three games by Toronto's Frank McCool before rallying to win the next three -- only to lose Game 7. The Game 5 defeat to Calgary was the Wings' first home shutout loss since Grant Fuhr backstopped St. Louis to a 2-0 victory at Joe Louis Arena on April 16, 1997. That opening-round meeting with the Blues also had been the last time the Wings were shut out twice in the same series, though Detroit won in six games on the way to the Stanley Cup.

The back-to-back 1-0 losses were unique for Detroit -- the Wings had never lost consecutive 1-0 decisions in the playoffs before. No team had lost consecutive 1-0 games in the playoffs since Colorado did it against Los Angeles, also in Games 5 and 6 of the 2001 Western Conference semifinals. But unlike the Wings, who split four games before their offense stopped scoring the Avalanche had won three of the first four games. They regrouped and beat the Kings 5-1 in Game 7 on their way to the Stanley Cup.