Detroit honors Patrick Kane with celebratory jerseys after 500th goal

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

Detroit teammates celebrated Kane’s achievement with shirts with his graphicsnumber “500” and nickname “SHOVTIME”. Fans at Little Caesars Arena applauded Kane as his teammates joined him on the ice.

Kane opened the scoring with his 499th goal at 19:31 of the first period, a wrist shot over goaltender Kevin Lankinen’s pad on a 5-on-3 power play. He capped the night with his 500th goal late in the third period, burying an empty netter with 3:53 remaining after Vancouver pulled Lankinen for the extra attacker. This was 1,332. game in Kane’s NHL career and brought him to 1,369 points, just six shy 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 score 500 goals while with the Red Wings, joining legends Gordie Howe, Dean Ciccarelli, Steve Yzerman, Pat Verbick 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 scored 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 winner 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 moved its record to 26-15-4, good enough for second place in the Atlantic Division. Other contributors included rookie defender Axel Sandin-Pelica, who scored to make it 2-0, James van Riemsdyk, who assisted on two goals, including JT Komfer’s first in 19 games, and Lucas Raymond, who added a goal late in the third. Goalie John Gibson stopped 23 shots in the win.