, the Red Wings have won the most Stanley Cup championships ( 11 ) of any NHL franchise based in the United States, and are third overall in total NHL championships, behind the Montreal Canadiens ( 24 ) and Toronto Maple Leafs ( 13 ).

Following the 1926 Stanley Cup playoffs, during which the Western Hockey League was widely reported to be on the verge of folding, the NHL held a meeting on April 17 to consider applications for expansion franchises, at which it was reported that five different groups sought a team for Detroit.

The Cougars made the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 1929 with Carson Cooper leading the team in scoring.

In 1934 the Wings made the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time, with John Sorrell scoring 21 goals over 47 games and Larry Aurie leading the team in scoring.

The Red Wings won their first Stanley Cup in 1936, defeating Toronto in four games.

Detroit repeated as Stanley Cup champions in 1937, winning over the Rangers in the full five games.

The Wings made the Stanley Cup Finals in three consecutive years during the early 1940s.

Lindsay's 33 goals propelled the Wings to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they were swept by the Maple Leafs.

The Wings won the Stanley Cup again in 1950, with Pete Babando scoring the game winner in double overtime of Game 7 to beat the Rangers in the Finals.

They made it all the way to the conference finals against the powerful and eventual Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers, but lost in five games.

After defeating the St. Louis Blues, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Colorado Avalanche in the first three rounds, the Wings went on to beat the Philadelphia Flyers in four straight games in the Stanley Cup Finals.

It was the Wings ' first Stanley Cup since 1955, breaking the longest drought ( 42 years long ) in the league at that time.

The Red Wings dedicated the 1997 – 98 season, which also ended in a Stanley Cup victory, to Konstantinov, who came out onto the ice in his wheelchair on victory night to touch the Cup.

The Red Wings went on to capture another Stanley Cup in five games over the Carolina Hurricanes, with Nicklas Lidstrom winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs ' MVP.

The Wings opened the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs against the Edmonton Oilers with a 3 – 2 overtime victory at Joe Louis Arena.

They advanced to the third round of the 2007 Stanley Cup playoffs after defeating the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks both in six games, coming back three straight after the Sharks ' 2 – 1 series lead.

The Red Wings lost to the eventual Stanley Cup winning team-the Anaheim Ducks, in the Western Conference Finals four games to two.

Osgood never left the net for the remainder of the playoffs, as the Red Wings came back in that series on their way to winning their 11th Stanley Cup.

This was the Wings ' fourth Stanley Cup in 11 years.

It was the first time a team captained by a non-North American player ( Nicklas Lidström ) won the Stanley Cup.

The Wings entered the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the second overall seed in the Western Conference.

They earned the # 3 seed in the Western Conference for the Stanley Cup playoffs ( extending their professional sports record of post-season appearances to 20 seasons ), finishing behind the Vancouver Canucks ( 117 ) and San Jose Sharks ( 105 ).

The Wings again faced the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round of the playoffs, this time sweeping them 4 – 0 — making them the only team in the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs to sweep the first round — and again moved on to play the Sharks in Round 2.

After losing the first three games of the series against the Sharks, the Red Wings won three consecutive games to force a Game 7, becoming just the eighth team in NHL history to accomplish the feat ( the Chicago Blackhawks became the seventh team to do so earlier in the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs, against the Vancouver Canucks ).

In 1983, they made it to the Stanley Cup Final, only to be swept by the three-time defending champion New York Islanders.

The team would now be playing right in the middle of the New York – New Jersey – Connecticut tri-state area, home to the three-time defending Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders, as well as the very popular New York Rangers.

In the third round of the playoffs, the Islanders nearly did it again, rallying from another 3 – 0 deficit to force a seventh game against the defending Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers before the Flyers took the decisive seventh game at home and went on to win the Stanley Cup.

After dispatching Buffalo in five and sweeping the defending Stanley Cup champion Rangers, the Flyers were upset in the Eastern Conference Finals to the eventual Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils in six games.

The Stanley Cup () is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League ( NHL ) playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Unlike the trophies awarded by the other three major professional sports leagues of North America, a new Stanley Cup is not made each year ; winners keep it until a new champion is crowned.

Stanley sent the following message to the victory celebration held on March 18, 1892, at Ottawa's Russell Hotel for the three-time champion Ottawa Hockey Club:

The Montreal Victorias had won the league title and thus the Stanley Cup, but the challenge match was between the previous year's champion, Montreal HC, and the university squad.

The smallest municipality to produce a Stanley Cup champion team is Kenora, Ontario ; the town had a population of about 4, 000 when the Kenora Thistles captured the Cup in January 1907.

Three leagues competed for the Cup: two league champions faced each other for the right to challenge the third champion in the final series .< ref >< nowiki > Diamond, Zweig, and Duplacey </ nowiki >, pp. 20 – 21 </ ref > This lasted three seasons as the PCHA and the WCHL later merged to form the Western Hockey League ( WHL ) in 1925 .< ref name =" DiamondPrize-21 ">< nowiki > Diamond, Zweig, and Duplacey </ nowiki >, p. 21 </ ref > After winning in the 1924 – 25 season, the Victoria Cougars became the last team outside the NHL to win the Stanley Cup.

Adams had fallen in love with hockey while watching the 1924 Stanley Cup Finals between the NHL champion Montreal Canadiens and the WCHL champion Calgary Tigers.

" The team would overcome Forsberg's injury ; in the Western Conference Finals, Colorado beat the St. Louis Blues 4 – 1 and progressed to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they faced the defending champion New Jersey Devils.

In the Western Conference Semifinals the Avalanche were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.

The game ended with nine fights, 11 goals, 39 penalties, 148 penalty minutes, one hat-trick ( by Valeri Kamensky ) and a goalie fight between Stanley Cup champion goalies Patrick Roy and Mike Vernon.

In 1909, he beat Frank Moran, Tony Ross, Al Kaufman, and the middleweight champion Stanley Ketchel.

In their fourth season, 1995 – 96, with Bradley still leading the team in scoring, second-year forward Alexander Selivanov scoring a total of 31 goals, and Roman Hamrlik ( the team's first-ever draft choice except those drafted in the expansion draft two days earlier ( Wendel Young being the first ever Lightning ) in 1992 ) having an All-Star year on defense, the Lightning finally qualified for the playoffs, nosing out the defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey Devils for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference by a single game.

To this day, the 1938 Black Hawks possess the poorest regular-season record of any Stanley Cup champion.

Once again though, they would fail to make the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the eventual champion Calgary Flames.