It’s been a golden era for the Detroit Red Wings, who are in pursuit of their fourth Stanley Cup championship in the last 10 NHL seasons. They have won at least 48 regular-season games in each of the last seven years, and their 50-win performance in 2006-07 made them the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

Detroit’s recent run of No. 1 seeds hasn’t had much of a postseason payoff. After the Red Wings have dominated the competition during the regular season, fans have gone home with an empty feeling too often in the playoffs.

Only the first of Detroit’s four recent seasons as the No. 1 seed was a catalyst to winning the Cup. In 2001-02, the Red Wings won 51 games and took care of Vancouver, St. Louis and Colorado to advance to the Stanley Cup finals. They lost Game 1 at home to Carolina, but won the next four to claim their third Cup in six seasons.

The top-seeded Red Wings beat four opponents in their 2002 championship run, but since then, they have lost three of four playoff series. In fact, the last three Stanley Cup finalists from the West have eliminated the Wings, en route to their appearances in the finals.

As a No. 2 seed in the 2003 playoffs, Detroit was swept in the opening round by the upstart Anaheim Ducks, who lost to New Jersey in the Stanley Cup finals. The Wings got passed No. 8 Nashville in the first round of the 2004 playoffs -- their only series victory since winning the Cup in 2002 -- but then lost a six-game matchup with finals-bound Calgary. A year ago as the No. 1 seed, Detroit won eight of its final nine regular-season contests to finish with 58 victories, but lost to eighth-seeded Edmonton in six games. The surging Oilers made it to the finals before losing to Carolina.

The Red Wings are a game up in their bid to advance out of the first round, leading the Flames two games to one with Game 4 in Calgary Thursday night. At playoff time these days, very little is a given for Wings fans, but they have to feel good about their team winning two of the first three. If Detroit gets past Calgary, an eventual showdown with Anaheim looms. For the Red Wings and their fans, though, it’s one step at a time.