The Carolina Hurricanes kept their playoff hopes alive Sunday, when Ray Whitney scored a power-play goal at 1:30 of overtime for a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers. Still, with just three games to play, the defending Stanley Cup champions are two points behind the Montreal Canadiens, the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Hurricanes can hardly afford to lose this week when they close out the schedule against Tampa Bay (Tuesday), Atlanta (Friday) and Florida (Saturday).

Missing the playoffs would put the Hurricanes in a very small group of teams that failed to reach the postseason the year after winning the Cup. It would mark only the fourth time in the post-6 expansion era that a Cup winner didn't get an opportunity to defend its title.

Defending Stanley Cup Champs that Failed to Make Playoffs the Following Season
(season listed is championship season)

1936-37 Detroit Red Wings
1937-38 Chicago Black Hawks
1944-45 Toronto Maple Leafs
1966-67 Toronto Maple Leafs
1968-69 Montreal Canadiens
1994-95 New Jersey Devils

The Toronto Maple Leafs won their last Stanley Cup in the spring of 1967, then failed to make the playoffs the season that the NHL expanded from six to 12 teams. The storied Montreal Canadiens suffered the same fate a year later. The only other post-expansion club to miss out on playoff hockey the year after parading the Cup was the New Jersey Devils in 1995-96.

Missing out on a chance to defend has happened only six times in the history of the league. The Hurricanes are desperately trying to avoid being the seventh club to go from riches to rags.