Kane scores OT winner in first game against Chicago
Patrick Kane scored on a breakaway 1:43 into overtime in his return to Chicago, lifting Detroit past the Blackhawks 3-2 on Sunday.
The 35-year-old starred with Chicago for 16 seasons before being traded to the New York Rangers a year ago. Kane signed with the Red Wings as a free agent in November and repeatedly was saluted with raucous cheers from a season-high crowd of 21,141 in his first game against his first NHL team.
The return of Kane, who assisted on fellow former Blackhawk Alex Debrincat’s tying goal with 4:16 left in regulation, coincided with Chicago retiring Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Chelios’ No. 7 jersey in a pregame ceremony. Chelios also played for Detroit in a 26-year NHL career.
Chelios, 62, spent 10 seasons with the
Red Wings and nine with the Blackhawks. He paid tribute to Kane during his speech, saying the Buffalo native will go down as hockey’s greatest American-born player.
“That jersey looks kind of funny, Kaner, but it’ll grow on you,” Chelios said. “And don’t worry; it’ll work out in the end. You’ll be standing here, same as me.”
Detroit, which trailed 2-1 after two periods, won its fifth in a row and handed Chicago its fourth straight loss and 12th in 13 games.
The Blackhawks aired a Kane tribute video during the first TV timeout. The crowd started cheering before the video started and kept going as Kane repeatedly waved in appreciation.
“Just so special,” Kane said. “Didn’t know if I did enough laps or too many laps. The guys kept telling me to go for another one, go for another one. Some of them wanted to see four; I only did three. It was great.”
■ Blue Jackets 4, Rangers 2: At Columbus, Ohio, Dmitri Voronkov and Kirill Marchenko each had a goal and an assist for Columbus to back Elvis Merzlikins, who stopped 38 shots, as New York’s franchise record-tying 10-game win streak ended.
The Blue Jackets, who have alternated wins and losses for their past six games, had lost three in a row at home.
■ Jets 4, Coyotes 3, OT: At Winnipeg, Manitoba, Kyle Connor scored his second goal of the night 33 seconds into overtime as Winnipeg won for the sixth time in seven games and dealt Arizona its 12th loss in a row. Mark Scheifele had a goal and three assists. Nick Schmaltz scored twice for the Coyotes.
■ Sabres 3, Hurricanes 2, SO: At Buffalo, N.Y., Casey Mittelstadt scored in the fourth round for the lone shootout goal as Buffalo won its season-best third in a row. Ukko-pekka Luukkonen stopped 30 shots through overtime and didn’t allow a shootout goal.
■ Penguins 7, Flyers 6: At Pittsburgh, Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists to give him 129 points — 55 goals, 74 assists — in 87 regular-season games against Philadelphia, the most by any foe against the Flyers.
■ Lightning 4, Devils 1: At Newark, N.J., Nikita Kucherov became the first NHL player to reach 100 points this season, notching an empty-net goal and three assists for 102 points.
■ Predators 4, Ducks 2: At Anaheim, Calif., Filip Forsberg scored the tiebreaking goal 3:26 into the third period and had an assist for Nashville in its fifth straight win.