Kane's run at 23 games after empty-net goal
When Patrick Kane looks back on his remarkable scoring streak years later, not all of the points scored will stand out. But he’ll undoubtedly remember the relief of those few games where the streak came dangerously close to ending before he found the net or a teammate for a goal. Like Tuesday night for instance.
With his Chicago Blackhawks up 3-1 on the Nashville Predators late in the third period, Kane had not found the score sheet. Regulation was nearing its end when the Preds got an offensive zone faceoff and decided to pull goaltender Pekka Rinne. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville trotted out two centers, Artem Anisimov and Marcus Kruger. Then he put out Kane, one of his top scorers, with the task of making sure the Blackhawks’ lead stayed where it was.
It was a bit of an unnatural position to be in for the highly-skilled winger, but even after the Preds were later whistled for being offside, Kane stayed on the ice. The Blackhawks coach clearly wanted to see the streak live on as much as anyone else.
On the ensuing play, he got the puck in the neutral zone and you could tell that he was immediately looking to shoot. Instead of gaining the red line to avoid icing, Kane sized up the net and let it rip.
The little black disc fluttered down the ice and just inside the left post with just 1:36 remaining in regulation to extend the streak to 23 consecutive games with a point.
It may have been an empty net but @88PKane‘s 600th point extends his point scoring streak to 23 games. #NSHvsCHI https://t.co/LmBB4AQbaY
— NHL (@NHL) December 9, 2015
A couple of inches to the left and that’s an icing. Instead, it went in for Kane’s 17th of the season and extended his NHL lead to 43 points.
The goal also helped Kane reach a significant milestone. It was the former first-overall pick’s 600th career point. He’s been near a point-per-game player over his entire career as Kane has appeared in 604 games with the Blackhawks since 2007.
The goal was also the 37th point Kane has scored over this incredible scoring streak. He is now just two games shy of the longest scoring streak in the NHL since 1993. Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby had points in 25 consecutive games in 2010-11.
The NHL record is 51 straight games set by Wayne Gretzky in 1983-84 while he was with the Edmonton Oilers. It still seems highly unlikely Kane will come close to hitting that mark, but his chance is still alive after Tuesday night.
There have been many occasions where it seemed like Kane’s streak would come to an end. That includes the last game, which helped him set the Blackhawks’ franchise record for longest scoring streak. His hand-pass assist on Artemi Panarin‘s empty-netter Sunday with under two minutes in regulation is what sealed it.
The closest Kane has come to the streak ending, however, was against the Anaheim Ducks. Kane assisted the game-tying goal with just under 27 second to play in regulation to force overtime and keep the streak alive on Nov. 27.
By the way, the streak started with an empty-net goal way back on Oct. 17.
The empty-netters may cheapen the streak for some, but they usually don’t ask you how you score them and they don’t put any asterisks in the record book for goals that count just like any other. It’s still hard to believe this thing is still going in a year where we’re constantly asking if the league needs to adjust its rules to boost scoring.
By the way, in just 28 games, Kane is already almost half way to his career-best points total of 88. He also is on pace to obliterate his career high of 30 goals.
Patrick Kane celebrates the goal that kept his scoring streak alive. (USATSI)
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
