The sheer numbers are staggering -- three consecutive seasons of 50-plus wins; breaking the 100-point plateau eight straight years; six Presidents' Trophy wins in the past 13 seasons; while qualifying for the post-season dance 17 consecutive times.

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That last one represents the longest current streak in pro sports.

The Detroit Red Wings are one remarkable machine.

And yet, there's a feeling that as well as the team has done during the regular season, the playoff success rate has been a disappointment.

The Wings last won the Stanley Cup in 2001-02 when they toppled the Carolina Hurricanes in five neat games. But nothing since.

It's the curse of greatness that folks look at the Wings as being underachievers, as they begin a best-of-seven first-round series Thursday against the Nashville Predators.

And it's the pressure that logically follows when the team leads the league in regular season points, as they've done again this year.

"One of the things I've found as being top seed, and I've been at both ends of it, when you're the higher seed, the other team you're facing has been battling like crazy while sometimes you've been drifting along," said Detroit head coach Mike Babcock.

"The great thing for us this year is our games down the stretch have been against great teams that have played us really difficult. We had Nashville in here the other night and they're battling for their playoff lives and gave us a really difficult game."

Last season, the Red Wings came close. They took the Anaheim Ducks to six games in the Western Conference final before losing out to the eventual Cup winners. Two of their losses were in overtime, while the series clincher was a 4-3 loss.

Babcock suggests the strain of being a favourite has shifted away from Detroit this season, in spite of the 54-21-7 record.

"The way I look at it is this: no one talks about us anymore, they talk about the Ducks and the San Jose Sharks in the West. So to me, we're just sliding in there unnoticed," he said.

Times have certainly changed in the playoff landscape as well.

It used to be the eighth seed straggling into the playoffs was cannon fodder for the No. 1.

Not anymore, says Babcock, as they battle the 41-32-9 Predators.

"The line between the top seed and the team finishing eighth is very little," said Babcock. "I said this a few months ago, you look at the teams [below you], and really, you don't want to play anybody. They're all that good.

"We've been very fortunate this year in that we have a very professional group and we get prepared to play every night and we have two solid goaltenders. So, that's allowed us to win a lot of close games all year long and be successful. But having said that, if you come to the rink expecting us to shellac the other team, that's just not going to happen.