Los Angeles vs. Edmonton, 1982 First Round -- The Kings were a talented team, loaded with veterans. Led by the Triple Crown line of Marcel Dionne, Dave Taylor and Charlie Simmer, they also boasted forwards Jim Fox, Bernie Nicholls and Steve Bozek. They were deep on defense with Jay Wells, Mark Hardy, Larry Murphy, Dave Lewis and Jerry "King Kong" Korab. Mario Lessard was in net, backed up by Doug Keans.

The Edmonton Oilers were clearly an up-and-coming team, led by Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson and Jari Kurri up front, defensemen Kevin Lowe, Paul Coffey, Risto Siltanen and Lee Fogolin. Grant Fuhr was backed up by Ron Low in net.

The Kings won a wild shootout in Game 1, 10-8, the most goals ever scored in a Stanley Cup Playoff game. Gretzky scored in overtime of Game 2 to even the series. Then came the "Miracle on Manchester," named for a street near the Great Western Forum.

It seemed Edmonton had taken over the five-game series when it took a 5-0 lead into the third period of Game 3. Did it look hopeless? Well, the owner left in his private helicopter and coach Don Perry urged his players to begin a rally they could carry over into Game 4. The Kings rallied for four goals before Bozek beat Fuhr with five seconds remaining in regulation time. Ironically, although there were 10 future Hall of Famers in the game and a plethora of skilled veterans, at 2:35 of overtime, rookie center Doug Smith drew an offensive faceoff back to rookie left wing Daryl Evans who fired a shot over Fuhr's shoulder.

Glenn Anderson's winner in Game 4 tied the series but the Kings downed the Oilers, 7-4, in Game 5.

Montreal vs. Boston, 1971 First round -- The defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins completed the 1971 regular season as one of the greatest teams in NHL history. With the schedule expanded to 78 games, the Bruins set a record with 57 wins and 121 points and another record with 399 goals. Phil Esposito set a record with 76 goals and 152 points while defenseman Bobby Orr, who led the League in scoring the previous year with 33 goals and 120 points increased those totals in 1970-71 to 37 goals and 139 points. Seven Bruins made the Top Ten scoring list, including Johnny Bucyk, Ken Hodge, Wayne Cashman, John "Pie" McKenzie and Fred Stanfield.

The Montreal Canadiens, who finished third in the East, had 97 points.

The Bruins beat the Canadiens, 3-1, in Game 1 and led, 5-1, in Game 2 before Montreal stormed back for a 7-5 victory at Boston Garden. The teams split at the Forum, then the Bruins won in Boston and Montreal staved off elimination at home to set up Game 7 in Boston, a 4-2 Canadiens victory.

"Ken Dryden was better than we had ever dreamed," said Bobby Orr, who had five goals and seven assists in the seven games, about the Canadiens rookie goaltender. Dryden had been drafted by the Bruins in 1964 but opted to go Cornell University, where he won an NCAA championship. He spent a year with Canada's national team, then was signed by the Canadiens and played six regular-season games before the playoffs. He was a virtual unknown. Dryden used his size effectively, taking up most of the net, laying across the goalmouth and stabbing shots seemingly out of reach. He was the difference in the tough second-round matchup against the Minnesota North Stars and Cesare Maniago. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks knocked off the Rangers to set up the second Canadiens-Blackhawks Final in six years. The Canadiens beat the Blackhawks in seven games in 1965. Montreal would win again in six games when the teams met in the 1973 Finals.

Rejean Houle did a great job of shadowing Bobby Hull in the '71 Finals but the Blackhawks held a 2-0 lead in Game 7 when Hull's shot hit the crossbar. A little later, Jacques Lemaire took a long shot that eluded Tony Esposito in Chicago's net to make it 2-1. Henri Richard added a pair of goals and Montreal won, 3-2, to capture their 16th Stanley Cup. Dryden was named winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Chicago vs. Toronto, 1938 Finals -- The most improbable story in the history of the NHL has to be the Stanley Cup victory of the 1938 Chicago Black Hawks (it was two words in those days) who defeated the heavily favored Toronto Maple Leafs.

Broken toe and all, Chicago goalie Mike Karakas helped Chicago beat Toronto in the 1938 Finals.

The Black Hawks were owned by a Chicago socialite with an anti-Canadian bias and a penchant for firing successful coaches, had a Ukrainian-born captain, included eight American players -- more than all the other teams combined -- and were coached by a veteran NHL referee who took a year off to accept the challenge.

The Stanley Cup series with Toronto was equally bizarre, featuring the introduction of a more protective skate boot for goalies, backstage wheeling-and-dealing by both teams, a fistfight between the Chicago coach and the powerful Toronto owner and a victory by a career minor-league goalie plucked out of a tavern the afternoon of Game 1.

The Chicago coach was Bill Stewart, the grandfather of recently retired NHL referee Paul Stewart.

The 1937-38 Chicago Black Hawks defeated the Montreal Canadiens and New York Americans to face Toronto in the Stanley Cup Finals. The Maple Leafs were big favorites over the Black Hawks, who went 14-25-9 during the regular season.

Further complicating Chicago's problems, goalie Mike Karakas broke his toe in the Americans series and was lost for the Finals, it was thought. Without a goalie for Game 1, Black Hawks captain Johnny Gottselig, who was born in Odessa, said he knew minor-league goalie Alfie "Half Pint" Moore lived in Toronto and went to his house to see if he would play. Moore's wife said Half Pint had gone out for the afternoon. Gottselig found the 155-pounder in a Toronto bar. Moore was excited to see Gottselig and asked him if he could get him a couple of seats for the game that night because he'd been looking all over Toronto for tickets to sold-out Maple Leaf Gardens. Instead, Chicago signed him to a contract.

"The Maple Leafs sent me down to the minor leagues and I'm going to prove to them I'm no minor-league goalie," he told Gottselig before the game. The captain calmed Moore after the first goal and then scored to tie the game, 1-1.

Moore settled and held on to beat the Maple Leafs, 3-1, in Game 1, his only NHL game that season. He was replaced in Game 2 by goalie Paul Goodman who lost, 5-1.

Karakas, fitted with a protective boot, returned to win the next two games, including the finale in Chicago Stadium, as the Black Hawks wrapped up the Stanley Cup, three games to one.

Those aren't the only upsets in Stanley Cup history and they won't be the last. Surely, the results of the Western Conference matchups in 2003 in which the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim upset the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars, and the Minnesota Wild surprised the Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks before falling to Anaheim, rank among the most unpredictable results.

Other memorable preliminary-round upsets include the Minnesota North Stars dethroning the defending Stanley Cup champion Oilers in the 1991 Campbell Conference Finals; Lanny McDonald leading the 1978 Toronto Maple Leafs over the New York Islanders; John Davidson leading the New York Rangers over the Islanders in 1979 and the Islanders upsetting the New York Rangers in 1975.