"That's why they play the games."

That phrase goes a long way to explain the love of sports where things don't always go according to plan with upsets and new heroes emerging on the scene, and few stages are as prominent – or daunting – as the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

But upsets can – and often do – happen. Here's a look at five teams that shook up conventional thinking on hockey's greatest stage.

New Jersey vs. Detroit, 1995 Finals -- A lot of people thought there might be a sweep in the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals, they just didn't expect the New Jersey Devils to be handling the broom.

The Detroit Red Wings began to climb out of their two-decade-plus slump in the early 1990s, winning their division in 1992, 1994 and 1995 and finishing second in 1993. By 1995, they felt they had the team that could bring them their first Stanley Cup since 1955.

Ray Sheppard had 30 goals and 10 assists in 43 games. Sergei Fedorov had 20 goals and 30 assists and defenseman Paul Coffey led the team in scoring with 14 goals and 44 assists. The star-studded offense also included Dino Ciccarelli, Slava Kozlov, Steve Yzerman and Keith Primeau. They had Slava Fetisov, Nicklas Lidstrom, Vladimir Konstantinov, Bob Rouse, Mark Howe and Terry Carkner on defense and Mike Vernon and Chris Osgood in net.

Detroit had the NHL's best regular-season record, 33-11-4 for 70 points, compared to the Devils' 22-18-8 and 52 points, eight points behind the Philadelphia Flyers in the Atlantic Division. The Red Wings knocked off Dallas, San Jose and Chicago, losing only two games, while winning 12. New Jersey beat Boston, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, going 12-4.

The series marked the emergence of Martin Brodeur as one of the NHL's all-time great goalies. He posted three shutouts and a 1.67 goals-against average. Claude Lemieux was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Stanley Cup MVP. Devils coach Jacques Lemaire, who had won the Jack Adams Award the previous season as the NHL's top coach, frustrated the Red Wings with his neutral-zone trap.

The Devils were led by scoring leaders Stephane Richer (6-15-21) and Neal Broten (7-12-19). Lemieux's 13 goals led all scorers in the 1995 Stanley Cup Playoffs. John MacLean had five goals and 13 assists. Randy McKay added more than big hits and tough defensive play, scoring eight goals and adding four assists as the Devils led all teams with 67 goals.

San Jose vs. St. Louis, 2000 First Round -- The St. Louis Blues won the Presidents' Trophy as the NHL's best regular-season team with a 51-19-11-1 record for 114 points. The San Jose Sharks barely made the Western Conference Playoffs with a 35-30-10-7 mark for 87 points, 27 points behind the Blues. St. Louis outscored San Jose by 23 goals and the Sharks had allowed 49 more than the Blues. The Blues were 4-0-1 in the regular season against the Sharks. On paper, it didn't seem like much of a contest with the Blues boasting the likes of Al MacInnis, Chris Pronger, Pavol Demitra, Scott Young, Pierre Turgeon and Craig Conroy. But the Sharks had a veteran-laden lineup that included captain Owen Nolan, Mike Ricci, Vincent Damphousse, Jeff Friesen up front and defensemen Gary Suter, Mike Rathje and Marcus Ragnarsson and goalie Steve Shields.

The San Jose Sharks shocked the hockey world when they knocked off the mighty St. Louis Blues in the first round of the 2000 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Demitra, the Blues' leading scorer, missed the series with a concussion. Young and Friesen were sidelined for Game 1, a 5-3 Blues' win in St. Louis in which Jochen Hecht had a pair of goals. But there were troubling signs for the Blues, even in victory. Turek, who was 7-0-1 in his career against the Sharks in regular-season play, gave up a goal to Dave Lowry 46 seconds into the series. The Sharks came to play a physical series and showed they weren't afraid of St. Louis's vaunted power play, putting the Blues on the man advantage six times, with St. Louis converting only once.

After Marty Reasoner put St. Louis up 1-0 in Game 2, Marc Bergevin caught a Suter shot and tried to throw it behind his net. Instead, he flung it by a stunned Turek to tie the game. Bryan Marchment, who hadn't scored all season, put the Sharks up, 2-1, when he banked a shot from behind the net off Turek's pads into the net. Ricci scored on the power play and Nolan had an empty netter.

The Sharks took both games in San Jose. In Game 3, Owen Nolan was the story for San Jose, scoring both goals in the Sharks' 2-1 victory. Shields also contributed to the one-goal win, stopping a barrage of shots by MacInnis in the final minute.

The Sharks had to know the series was theirs for the taking after getting a lucky bounce in Game 4. Any defenseman is embarrassed when his slap shot doesn't reach the net, but Suter didn't mind on that night as his dipper midway through the third period of the pivotal game bounced awkwardly under Turek's arm to give the Sharks a 3-2 win and a 3-1 series lead.

St. Louis came back in the series by winning Game 5 at home, 5-3 when Chris Pronger snapped a third-period tie with a power-play goal to help stave off elimination. Young was the hero in Game 6 for St. Louis, as the forward registered a hat trick in the Blues' 6-2 win over San Jose. Shields was pulled in the second period of Game 6 after St. Louis scored on six of their first 14 shots. Coach Darryl Sutter stood by Shields in Game 7 and he responded with 18 saves on 19 shots as the Sharks tightened their defense. Meanwhile, Turek came apart. He misplayed a shot off the back glass and was beaten to the puck by Ronnie Stern at 2:51 of the first period. Nolan blasted a 65-foot slap shot by him with 11 seconds remaining in the period. Friesen also scored before Young tallied his sixth goal of the series to finish out the scoring in the 3-1 Sharks' victory.

Talk about Party Poopers, the Kings not only came back from a five-goal deficit in one of their Playoff games against the Oilers in 1982, they also took the series from the heavily favored group from Edmonton.

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.