A Knight to remember for Kane
After jersey retired in London, Blackhawks forward has a shot at 1,000-point NHL milestone
Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks will put the Maple Leafs’ defence to the test in their final game before the all-star break.
In addition to the excitement that’s stirred up whenever Kane faces the Leafs’ Auston Matthews in a matchup of American-born stars — both selected for next weekend’s all-star game in St. Louis — Kane is closing in on a major statistical milestone.
The 31-year-old Blackhawks forward, now in his 13th season, is just two points shy of 1,000 heading into Saturday night’s game at Scotiabank Arena.
“He just seems to get better and better every year,” Matthews said of Kane, who leads the Blackhawks with 24 goals and 60 points. “Despite (his age), you look at what he does and it’s impressive — what he can accomplish year in and year out.
“He’s always at the top of the leaderboard for points. When you play Edmonton, it’s (Connor) McDavid who’s highlighted. When you play Pittsburgh, it’s (Sidney) Crosby and (Evgeni) Malkin … It’s the same way when you play Chicago. The (scouting reports) centre around 88 (Kane’s number).”
The Buffalo-born Kane has 380 goals in 951 career games and has feasted on the Leafs over the years —14 goals and15 assists in18 meetings. Now he’s poised to become the 90th NHLer to reach the 1,000-point mark.
“It’s one of those things that’s pretty special,” Kane told NHL.com earlier this week. “We’ll see what happens and when it happens, but it’ll be a pretty cool milestone.”
Kane spent Friday night in London, Ont. — where he played a memorable season with the OHL’s Knights, amassing 62 goals and 145 points in 2006-07. He added 10 goals and 21 assists in the playoffs, one of just a handful of OHLers to ever lead the post-season in scoring without winning the championship. He was also voted CHL rookie of the year before going first overall in the NHL draft and joining the Blackhawks.
The Knights held a jersey retirement ceremony in Kane’s honour, the ninth in franchise history. He has been hailed as one of the reasons why so many top junior talents have gone through London since then. Leafs forward Mitch Marner, for one, turned in a memorable 2015-16 season with the Knights.
Kane was chosen in the 2004 OHL draft, but honoured a commitment to the U.S. national development program for the next two years before reporting to London. He left as the program’s alltime leading scorer — a record broken by Matthews in 2015.
“There’s a lot of guys — like Seth Jones and (former Leaf James van Riemsdyk) — who went through the program and had a lot of success,” Matthews said. “For myself, I look up to (Kane) and a lot of the other guys, too.”
Kane rifled two goals the last time the Leafs and Blackhawks met on Nov. 10 in Chicago. The Leafs lost 5-4 despite a 57-34 edge in shots.
Matthews, meanwhile, is up to second in the NHL in goals with 34, two behind Boston’s David Pastrnak. The Toronto centre knows what the Leafs need to do defensively against Kane — and that it’s easier said than done.
“You have to make sure you’re on top of him,” Matthews said. “You can’t give him any space.”