Who knew the United Center had a 400 level?
Patrick Kane scored his 400th career goal Sunday in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 7-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, joining franchise legends Bobby Hull (604 goals), Stan Mikita (541) and Steve Larmer (406) in the exclusive club and becoming the 100th player in NHL history to reach the milestone.
Nine minutes, 10 seconds into the third period, Kane and Alex DeBrincat worked a two-man rush. Kane made a hesitation move to get around a diving defender and made Red Wings goaltender Thomas Greiss wonder if he would pass it back to DeBrincat.
But Kane sniped a shot from the left circle to Greiss’ stick side and raised his hands in jubilation at reaching the milestone as teammates surrounded him.
“I feel pretty good about my game and where it’s at right now,” Kane said on the TV broadcast. “I guess I look back on it, my childhood was playing hockey all the time. That’s what I love to do.”
In his 14th season since the Hawks selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft, the Buffalo, N.Y., native is third in team history with 655 assists and fourth in points with 1,055.
Sunday’s goal was Kane’s 11th of the season and gave him 33 points in 23 games.
Kane’s feat, which gave the Hawks a 5-1 lead, seemed to open the floodgates for scoring.
After the Red Wings’ Evgeny Svechnikov answered three minutes later, Dominik Kubalik and DeBrincat scored about a minute apart.
Nikita Zadorov scored his first goal of the season, Ryan Carpenter scored twice and Pius Suter scored his seventh of the season.
The Hawks improved to 18-7-4 while clinging to fourth place in the Central Division.
While the last-place Red Wings pulled off a 5-3 upset Saturday, the Hawks have won three of their last four and six of eight.
Zadorov had five assists entering the game, but his last regular-season goal came against the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 4, 2020, when he was with the Colorado Avalanche. The defenseman had three goals during the postseason last summer.
Zadorov struck from the slot with 8:19 left in the first period after receiving a centering pass from David Kampf.
Carpenter’s lone goal before Sunday — his only point this season in fact — came against the Nashville Predators on Jan. 27. His swipe from the slot appeared to bank off Red Wings defenseman Alex Biega’s visor and go into the net after Greiss kicked it.
The Red Wings cut the deficit to 2-1 when Sam Gagner redirected Jon Merrill’s shot from the point through Kevin Lankinen’s five-hole.
Overshadowed in all of the fireworks, Lankinen had a whopping 44 saves. He faced 21 shots in a frenetic first period. The Hawks took 12 shots.
Like Lankinen in the first, Greiss had his share of outstanding saves in the second period, fending off a flurry of shots by Kane, DeBrincat and Adam Boqvist. Greiss had 25 saves.
After Suter scored in the third for a 3-1 Hawks lead, Carpenter scored on the power play to set the stage for Kane.
