Niklas Lidstrom will be the first European player in history to captain his team to the promised land in its 115 year history tonight, as the Detroit Red Wings have won the 2008 Stanley Cup, defeating the Pittsburgh 4-2 in the best of 7.

Though the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied on, scoring a power play goal with less than two minutes to go, Detroit won the game 3-2 on goals by Brian Rafalski, Valtteri Filppula, and Henrik Zetterberg, whereas Evengi Malkin and the injured Sergei Gonchar scored for the Penguins, who almost scored with less than a second left.

As I’m writing in the final seconds, we don’t know the exact details yet, but it is presumed that Henrik Zetterberg will win the Conn Smythe Trophy for Playoff MVP.

This is the eleventh time that the Red Wings have won the cup, tying the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second most in NHL history (the Montreal Canadiens lead with 24) , with several players on this wings roster getting their 4th.

As well, Chris Chelios is the oldest player to ever win the cup, at 46 years old.

Photos and video coming.

UPDATE: Henrik Zetterberg is indeed the Conn Smythe Winner. Penguins fans are cheering ‘Crosby!’ right now, haha.