Kane Scores Two vs. Canucks to Become 50th in 500-Goal Club

DETROIT — Patrick Kane scored his 499th and 500th goals to help the Detroit Red Wings down the Vancouver Canucks 5-1 and move into second place in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.

The Red Wings (26-15-4) are in a points-tie with the Montreal Canadiens for first place, but the Habs (25-13-6) show a better points-percentage based on having a game in hand.

Kane, 37, scored a power play goal with 29 seconds left in the first period and then added an empty-net goal with 3:53 left to become the 50th NHL player to reach 500 goals. Andrew Copp fed Kane the puck on his 500th. Kane skated into the zone and buried a wrist shot into the net.

There was a buzz in Little Caesars Arena as soon as Detroit coach Todd McLellan put Kane on the ice with the Canucks net empty.

“I don’t usually play when the net’s empty,” Kane said. “It was nice to get that opportunity when I came on the ice, just to kind of hear the crowd erupt a little bit there. It was pretty cool.”

Kane is the sixth player to reach the 500-goal milestone in a Red Wings jersey, joining Gordie Howe (March 14, 1962 at New York Rangers), Dino Ciccarelli (Jan. 8, 1994 at Los Angeles), Steve Yzerman (Jan. 17, 1996 vs. Colorado), Pat Verbeek (March 22, 2000 vs. Calgary) and Brendan Shanahan (March 23, 2002 at Colorado).

With his two goals, Buffalo native Kane now needs only six points to pass Mike Modano to become the leading American-born points producer. Kane has 1,369 points and Modano retired with 1,374 points.

“It was an emotional night for our group,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “A good thing for our group to win the game, too.”

Takeaways

Defenseman Ben Chiarot was plus-3 in the game with two hits and four blocked shots. . . James van Riemsdyk had two more assists to give him a goal and four assists in his past two games. He’s plus-4 in those games. . . Defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka contributed a goal and an assist for his second career multi-point game. Both of Sandin-Pellikka’s multi-point games have come against Vancouver.

Key Moment

The Canucks received a second-period power play goal from Jake DeBrusk to cut Detroit’s margin to one goal. About three minutes later, J.T. Compher scored his fifth goal of the season about to regain the two-goal lead.

Key Stat

Detroit goaltender John Gibson, with 24 saves against Vancouver, owns an 11-2-0 record with a 2.17 goals-against average, a 0.927 save percentage and two shutouts in 13 appearances since Dec. 2 vs. Boston.

Up Next

The Red Wings play the Atlantic Division rival Montreal Canadiens on the Saturday. The Red Wings lost to the Habs 5-1 at Little Caesars Arena on Opening Night.