DETROIT -- For those who were in denial, who still believed that the New Jersey Devils, Montreal Canadiens or Toronto Maple Leafs would represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup finals, sorry.

	'Canes coach Paul Maurice: "Our motivation isn't to prove the world wrong. It's to win."

The Carolina Hurricanes have officially showed up. And for those who don't think they stand a chance, who think the 'Canes are just the final stepping stone to the greatest hockey team ever achieving its ultimate goal, the boys from the South have something to say to you.

You might be right.

Nowhere among the Carolina contingency will you find any temper tantrums about being overlooked. Nowhere will you find a confused defenseman, claiming the Hurricanes are a better team than the talent-laden Detroit Red Wings. Instead, you find brutal honesty.

Perhaps it's to deflect pressure off of themselves and onto the Wings. Or perhaps it's what they really think. Whatever the case, the Carolina Hurricanes are handling the underdog role in the most peculiar of ways: admitting the Red Wings are better.

"I could stand up here and argue with you to death that we're a better hockey team than they are," Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said. "But you're going to pull out all the stats and all the numbers and beat me over the head with them. And you'd be right. It is what it is. We're the underdogs. So be it."

Consider: The Hurricanes had 91 points during the regular season. In the West, that wouldn't have qualified them for the playoffs. They were the third seed in the East because they won the Southeast Division, which some affectionately tab the "Southleast."

To win the series, the Hurricanes will have to win at least one game at Joe Louis Arena, a place they haven't won in since 1989. In their last four playoff games, Carolina has scored seven goals. Detroit scored that many in its last game against defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado.

So are the Hurricanes underdogs? Yes. Does it mean they can't win? No.

"We respect their team, but if people think we're going into this series thinking, 'These are the Red Wings, so we should just fold -- they're nuts,'" Jeff O'Neill said. "Just look at the Super Bowl."

O'Neill said he and some of his teammates have referenced the New England Patriots' stunning victory over the St. Louis Rams last January as reason to believe that anything can happen.

"The Patriots knew they were going against an offensive powerhouse and they would have to execute their game plan to a 'T' in order to be successful," O'Neill said. "They did that and they won. We'll have to do the same."

That means playing strong defense in front of a hot goalie and waiting for the Red Wings to make a mistake. And when they do, pouncing on it. It isn't the sexiest game plan. But so far, it's worked.

"Will we need to play perfect? No," Maurice said. "But we will need to play as good of hockey as our team can play. And you know, at this point, that's the way it should be."

The Red Wings, interestingly enough, say they are apprehensive about being prohibitive favorites over Carolina. In part because of the unknown (the two teams played only twice during the regular season, seven months ago) and in part because of the strange things that can happen in the finals.

In 1997, the Red Wings, much like the Hurricanes, were told they were too small, too weak to knock off the favorite Philadelphia Flyers. And Detroit swept that series 4-0. Two seasons earlier, the heavily favored Red Wings were swept by New Jersey.

"It is really irrelevant," Detroit captain Steve Yzerman said of being the favorite or underdog. "We're certainly not sitting here thinking they aren't a top team. They've got something special going. That makes them dangerous. I guess it's a magical season for them. Somehow, we have to figure out a way to put a halt to that."

	“	I'd tell you to buzz the hell off and I wouldn't talk to you. ”
		— Detroit's Brett Hull when asked how he'd react if he were a Hurricane

Somehow. Perhaps the experience of 21 Stanley Cup rings (as opposed to Carolina's six) will help. Perhaps the fact that their head coach has won eight cups (Maurice has won none) might help. So, too, should the fact that Detroit players have won four league MVPs, six Vezina Trophies, four Norris Trophies and 31 members of the NHL's postseason all-star team. Carolina? None of the above.

Having said that, you'd be mistaken if you think the Hurricanes are just going to roll over and play dead. Are they going to be nervous? Absolutely. Are they overmatched? Probably. But there is plenty of fire in these underdogs, as evidenced by rookie Erik Cole's reaction to a reporter's questions Monday about just that.

"Personally, I could care less what people think," Cole said. "I'm a hockey player and you're a writer. How would you react if I told you that you were a bad writer? You'd say, 'Well, he's just a hockey player. What does he know?' That's how I feel. It doesn't matter."

The reporter pressed on, asking Cole why he felt so confident.

"Because we're a good hockey team," he said.

Unsatisfied, the reporter fired back again. "Be more specific. Where do you feel you have an advantage over Detroit?"

Cole: "You know, instead of me answering that, why don't you just come to our film session and you can take notes on our entire game plan. We'll just give you all our secrets.

"We're a team that works hard and plays well as a group. That's all I'll say."

Detroit's Brett Hull understands the frustration. Having played 15 years in the NHL, he's been on winning teams and on losing teams. He's been an underdog and he's been a favorite. And right now, if he were a Carolina Hurricane …

"I'd tell you to buzz the hell off and I wouldn't talk to you," Hull said.

His argument for why "his" team could win?

"Because of our game plan," Hull said. "We have big, quick puck-moving defensemen. Big, strong wingers with speed, veteran leadership. We're solid up the middle, good on face offs, play in a sound system and have the goaltending to win it."

But what about talent? While the Wings boast as many as nine potential Hall of Famers, including Yzerman, Hull, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brendan Shanahan and Dominik Hasek, the Hurricanes have one -- Ron Francis.

It doesn't matter, the Red Wings say. They're right, the Hurricanes answer. Since the playoffs began over a month ago, Carolina has been supposedly overmatched and outgunned against New Jersey, Montreal and Toronto.

Instead, those history-rich teams are at home. And the one nobody believes in, the one pointed too as the ignored stepchild, is here. In Hockeytown. Looking to cause a little trouble.

"Playing as an underdog, it's not a problem," Maurice said. "I think a little bit of that is good for our guys. That's what we are. So move on. Our motivation isn't to prove the world wrong. It's to win."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com.