DETROIT -- A strange thing happened as the Detroit Red Wings finished their morning skate before Game 5 on Thursday: a big brown UPS truck rolled into the delivery dock at Joe Louis Arena.

The act in itself wasn't special, but the contents of the truck were. On board were giant boxes with the words "Detroit Stanley Cup" on them.

What was inside? 2002 Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup championship merchandise. Hats, t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, everything. You name it, it was on the truck. A forklift removed the numerous pallets of merchandise and scattered them across the Joe Louis Arena floor.

Say what you will about the Red Wings being prepared, but one has to figure that the Carolina Hurricanes, upon leaving the arena early Thursday afternoon for their team bus, noticed the stacks upon stacks of memorabilia.

Forget about the Champagne being on the ice -- the merchandise is ready to be put on the shelves. The city is making championship preparations, as well. They have already discussed championship parade routes. And the police department has made plans to close off the three main arteries in the city, in hopes of curbing any potential fan violence.

Said police Sgt. Ricardo Moore: "They are going to win -- we know that."

Perhaps. But all this overtly positive thinking adds more pressure to the Wings, said head coach Scotty Bowman. Especially considering that they will play without defenseman Jiri Fischer, who was suspended after his vicious cross-check on Tommy Westlund in the third period of Game 4.

"There's always a nervousness about the game you need, and I think that's where it's at right now," Bowman said. "We have a forced lineup change. I don't hear them talking a lot about it, but they know it's there. Players like things to happen as they happened before if you are in a successful run. But I don't sit with the players, so I don't know -- I mean, I know the mood is pretty tight, but they are looking forward to starting the game for sure."

For the first time since this series started, the players have had two days to think about the task that lies ahead. The Wings are the first ones to admit the pressure is on them -- they're also the first to say they know how to handle it.

"There has been pressure on this team all year long and we have all kind of shouldered it equally," Brendan Shanahan said. "It has been that way with each round. It's that way today. It's that way until we do accomplish our goal."

Should Detroit win, it would be the first Stanley Cup for goalie Dominik Hasek, forward Luc Robitaille and defenseman Steve Duchesne. Carolina, on the other hand, is just trying to stay alive.

Despite going toe to toe with the Wings for much of the series, losing two one-goal games, the 'Canes find themselves on the brink of elimination.

"There's not much pressure," defenseman Aaron Ward said. "You're fighting for your life, so it should be fun for all of us."

Carolina coach Paul Maurice has tried not to be obnoxiously optimistic with his team, instead choosing a leadership blend of pointing out mistakes while encouraging improvement.

"You have lost three in a row and I think your players are a little more sophisticated, you are not just going to walk in and tell them everything is great, when it's not," Maurice said. "So we try to do both -- show them the areas we have to improve, the things that are costing us, the mistakes. They have to believe that they can win and you have to keep fostering that attitude to make sure that that belief is still there."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer for ESPN.com.