Detroit Red Wings' Home Winning Streak Ends; How Does It Rate?

Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena, the Canucks came back to stop the Red Wings' four-month-old home winning streak in one of the most entertaining games of this season.
 
How does Detroit's NHL-record 23-game roll compare to the longest home winning streaks in North American professional sports? From most impressive to least, here are the big five:

 
MLB, 1978 Pittsburgh Pirates—24 consecutive wins
 
With its parks all varying in size and shape, baseball's home field advantage is unlike that of any other sport.
 
However, it is still the toughest game to sustain a long winning streak in because the stakes of each individual game are the slightest. The games keep coming, the pitchers keep changing and even the best teams are prone to a letdown once a week.
 
What is special about the 1978 Pirates is that they did it in a pennant race—one they could have won had they been able to extend their streak to 25 in the penultimate game of the season.

 
MLB,1988 Boston Red Sox—24 consecutive wins
 
The 1988 Sox went streaking a little earlier, from late June through mid-August. This streak is less impressive than Pittsburgh's because the advantage in Fenway Park, with its Green Monster and its Pesky Pole, is more distinct than that of Three Rivers Stadium, a prototypical "cookie-cutter" field.

 
NHL, 2011-2012 Detroit Red Wings—23 consecutive wins
 
We're talking sheer dominance here.
 
In 23 games, the Red Wings won in regulation all but four times. They outscored their opponents 89-34 with the help of zero empty net goals. The last six games of the streak came with their backup goalie.
 
They were also only 13-11-1 on the road in that span, making the ghosts of the Joe look even more impressive.

 
NFL 1971-1974 Miami Dolphins—27 consecutive wins
 
In football, every game is an event, so it's nearly impossible to catch a dominant team sleeping in its own building.
 
The Fish were 54-9 overall throughout this run. Their 27-0 home record probably had more to do with Don Shula's troops than it did with conditions at the Orange Bowl.

 
NBA 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls—37 consecutive wins
 
Basketball's home-court advantage is minimal—basically, you just factor in the lighting in the arena and the fans behind the basket distracting the opposing team.
 
The Bulls' advantage in this streak was that they had Michael Jordan and their opponents did not. It's hard to credit the United Center when the team was 33-8 on the road that season.