The Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. - Jarome Iginla, 26, was the picture of calm on the eve of the Stanley Cup finals. While the captain of the Western Conference champion Calgary Flames looked relaxed in front of a throng of reporters, he revealed he didn't expect to be playing for hockey's top prize with this club.

"To be honest, I have to pinch myself," he said. "It is the Stanley Cup finals, one of only two teams left. The only Canadian team left. I am a fan myself, and wondered which team was going to be back and hoped it would be us."

The Flames didn't take the easy route to the finals, which will open at 8 p.m. today (ESPN) against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Calgary, the sixth-seeded team in the West, had to beat No. 3 Vancouver, top-seeded Detroit, and No. 2 San Jose to become the first Canada club to reach the finals since Vancouver in 1994.

Things won't get any easier now as the Flames are opening on the road for the fourth straight series against a team that won its division and amassed over 100 points.

Such a scenario couldn't have been dreamed of when the season began for this low-budget, small-market club that plays second fiddle in the province of Alberta to the history-rich Edmonton Oilers. The Flames hadn't so much as made the playoffs the previous seven seasons, and their last playoff series win came in 1989 when they won their only NHL title.

"There's such a fine line between making and not making the playoffs," Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. "That was our goal all season. Once you make the playoffs . . . it's not about the best players then, it is about the best teams. I think we have proved that."

The only other time a team knocked off three division winners in one playoff season, since the NHL took exclusive control of the Stanley Cup in 1927, was in 2000 when New Jersey did it in winning its second championship.

Iginla became the NHL's first black captain when the title was passed to him by teammate Craig Conroy before the season.

Suddenly, Iginla wasn't just a leader on the ice by his stellar play, which won him the goal-scoring title two years ago when he netted 52. The move put a "C" on his jersey and added a face to the least recognizable of Canada's six remaining teams. Not only didn't the pressure wear down the right winger, it pushed him to tie for the league lead with 41 goals.

Quite a turnaround for a player that figured to have been traded away from the Flames to a bigger-spending club by now.

"A little surprised I was still here this year," said Iginla, who made his NHL debut during the Flames' previous playoff appearance in 1996. "I have always enjoyed playing in Calgary, and you know, it's been a rebuilding process and I wanted to be here when we turn the corner.

"To be able to look back with the guys on how far we have come and look at the road and share it with them, I'm very thankful the organization has kept me around."

The Flames will have had five days off since knocking out San Jose in six games. In addition to giving them a chance to get ready for the East's top team, it has also afforded them the chance to watch the Lightning play.

Tampa Bay, which in January won the only regular-season meeting between the teams, was stretched to seven games by Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference finals that ended Saturday night.

"Obviously they have a lot of skill," said forward Martin Gelinas, who scored the clinching goal in each of Calgary's three series victories. "We know we are facing a very skilled and talented team, but if we keep sticking to our system, play well defensively, I think we could do a lot of good things."