In 2006, the Carolina Hurricanes lost four of their final five regular-season games and were a tepid 7-7-2 coming down the stretch. That cost them the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, since they finished a point behind Ottawa, but it didn't turn out to be important.
Two months later, the Hurricanes beat Edmonton, the upstart No. 8 Western Conference seed, in an entertaining seven-game Stanley Cup Final, with the deciding game in Raleigh.
Peter Laviolette, who joined the minor-league Colorado/Denver Rangers for 76 games over two seasons after playing for the 1988 U.S. Olympic team at the Albertville Winter Games, was the Hurricanes' coach.