Patrick Kane scores storybook overtime goal for Red Wings, beating Blackhawks in Chicago return

Patrick Kane initially made one lap around the neutral zone, thanking Blackhawks fans for their deafening ovation.

Then the ovation continued long enough to necessitate a second lap. And then long enough to necessitate a third lap. For two minutes that felt more like two hours, the season-high crowd of 21,141 at the United Center continuously roared in appreciation.

"[It was] just so special,” Kane said. “You don’t expect anything less from the Blackhawks with the tribute. [I] didn’t know if I did enough laps or too many laps. The guys kept telling me, ‘Go for another one; go for another one.’ Some of them wanted to see four.”

Hours later, Kane completed the Red Wings’ 3-2 comeback win over the Hawks in the most storybook fashion imaginable, lifting a breakaway shot into the corner of the net to score his fourth career overtime winner at the United Center — but his first that didn’t win the game for the home team.

Nobody could’ve deduced that fact based on the crowd reaction, though. Kane was showered with another deafening ovation during his fourth and final thank-you lap after celebrating the victory with his teammates — including another beloved former Hawk in Alex DeBrincat, who had banked a puck off Hawks goalie Petr Mrazek’s skate to tie the game with 4:16 left in regulation.

In overtime, Seth Jones produced a couple great chances to potentially win the game for the Hawks, but after Wings goalie James Reimer shut him down, Kane was wide open behind the play. That gave the man nicknamed “Showtime” all the time he wanted and needed to pick his spot.

“You know the feeling of the moment when you get that puck, but [I] just tried to stick with what I wanted to do,” Kane said. “Luckily enough, [I] saw it go in.

"[I] just tried to show the fans — there at the end — they’ll always have my heart here.”

For the Hawks, Sunday marked another disappointing loss in a season full of them. They’ve still won just once since Jan. 20 despite surviving to overtime three times at home this month.

They played well for 50 minutes and boasted a lead to show for it, but the so-called hockey gods — clearly salivating over the sentimental narrative after being inspired by Chris Chelios’ nostalgic ceremony earlier in the afternoon — had other ideas.

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Connor Bedard earned an assist on Nick Foligno’s second-period goal that fittingly tied him with Kane as the fourth-fastest player in Hawks franchise history to reach 40 career points. They each did it in 45 games.

Later on, Bedard delivered a pretty hard check on Kane along the boards, and Kane joked that Bedard was “lucky he had the bubble on” or he would’ve “gone after him.”

There’s an immense amount of mutual respect between the 35-year-old aging star and 18-year-old rising star. In fact, the latter finds himself in a very similar position to what the former experienced nearly two decades ago.

“The first day coming into Chicago, I was overwhelmed with the traffic and the city and everything,” Kane said. “You’re like, ‘I’m not going to be able to do this.’ I’m from a little town like Buffalo and never had to deal with anything like this. I was so wrong about that. It’s such an amazing sports town.”

"[Patrick Sharp] would always make fun of me and say I was ‘silver spoon-fed’ because I was the first overall pick and got all these opportunities. I would always tell him, ‘Hey, you should’ve worked harder when you were a kid.’ ... That’s what I think [of] with Connor. It seems he loves the game, loves practicing, loves working at his game. All that stuff pays off.”

Kane’s own Chelios story

Kane and Chris Chelios actually faced each other 10 times in Hawks-Wings matchups between 2007 and 2009, during the tail end of Chelios’ ridiculously long career at the very beginning of Kane’s.

Kane on Sunday shared a hilarious — and, for Chelios, extremely on-brand — story from one of those 10 matchups, this one in April 2008.

“We had a power play and the puck was stalled in the corner, and I had my back facing the net and felt about seven cross-checks [from Chelios] on my back,” Kane said. “I turned around, and I was looking to see if there was going to be a penalty. But the ref decided to let it go for a little bit, so I decided to whack him back a couple times. I think I might’ve had a 12th cross-check on my back [when] they finally called a penalty. We got a five-on-three out of it and scored.

“After, he was saying he wanted to give us a five-on-three so we could make the playoffs that year. I don’t think he was too honest about that one. And then, of course, my mom is mad about it after, saying, ‘He’s the same age as me. What’s he doing to you?’ But after that, we became pretty close.”

Injury updates

Hawks defenseman Nikita Zaitsev has been out since Jan. 16 due to what was described as a knee injury, but Richardson said doctors later discovered Zaitsev also had a bone fracture. He’s therefore not expected until roughly mid-March, although he has progressed in his recovery to working out in the gym.

Forward Andreas Athanasiou, out since Nov. 9 with a groin injury, graduated out of a non-contact jersey into a regular jersey at practice Saturday. Richardson thought the idea of Athanasiou playing next weekend might be optimistic, but he’s finally close.

Connor Murphy hasn’t played since Jan. 13 due to what Richardson called “middle-body, soft-tissue stuff,” and it doesn’t sound like he has made much progress yet.