Red Wings honor Patrick Kane with celebratory shirts after 500th goal

Detroit Red Wings forward Patrick Kane made NHL history on Thursday by becoming the 50th player in league history to score 500 career goals. The 37-year-old reached the milestone in a 5-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks, scoring both the opening goal and the milestone goal in front of a boisterous home crowd.

Detroit teammates celebrated Kane’s achievement with shirts featuring a graphic of him, the number “500,” and the nickname “SHOWTIME.” Fans at Little Caesars Arena gave Kane a standing ovation as he was joined by his teammates on the ice.

Kane opened the scoring with his 499th goal at 19:31 of the first period, snapping a wrist shot over goalie Kevin Lankinen’s pad on a 5-on-3 power play. He ended the night with his 500th goal late in the third period, burying an empty-netter with 3:53 remaining after Vancouver had pulled Lankinen for an extra attacker. This was the 1,332nd game of Kane’s NHL career and brought him to 1,369 points, just six behind of Mike Modano’s record for most points by a US-born player.

The milestone makes Kane the fifth American-born player to score 500 NHL goals, joining Joe Mullen (502), Jeremy Roenick (513), Keith Tkachuk (538), and Modano (561). He is also the sixth player to reach 500 goals while with the Red Wings, joining legends Gordie Howe, Dino Ciccarelli, Steve Yzerman, Pat Verbeek, and Brendan Shanahan. Kane’s 500 goals rank sixth among active NHL players, trailing only Alex Ovechkin (915), Sidney Crosby (649), Steven Stamkos (600), Evgeni Malkin (523), and John Tavares (509).

Kane has reached 1,369 career points and 869 assists while playing for the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, and Detroit. Of his 500 goals, 446 were scored with Chicago, five with New York, and 49 so far with the Red Wings. A three-time Stanley Cup champion (2010, 2013, 2015) and recipient of the Calder, Hart, Art Ross, and Conn Smythe trophies, Kane is considered a first-ballot Hall of Famer and one of the greatest American players in NHL history.

Detroit’s win brought its record to 26-15-4, good enough for second in the Atlantic Division. Other contributors included rookie defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka, who scored to make it 2-0, James van Riemsdyk, who assisted on two goals, including JT Compher’s first in 19 games, and Lucas Raymond, who added a goal late in the third. Goaltender John Gibson stopped 23 shots in the victory.

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