He might be one of the most prolific U.S.-born players to hit the ice in the NHL by the time his career is over, but it all started for Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane when he was taken first overall by the team in 2007.
From there, Kane has earned a number of individual awards – including an Art Ross, a Ted Lindsay, a Hart Memorial, a Conn Smythe and a Calder Memorial Trophy – on top of the three Stanley Cups he helped bring to Chicago. Better yet, he was named to the NHL’s Top 100 players of all-time and will likely be a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer when he decides to hang up the skates.
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Regardless, his ability to put the puck in the net on a regular basis has left him amid the top 10 NHL goal scorers born in the U.S., sitting right on the brink, and just seven goals from surpassing John Leclair for ninth on the all-time list.
Last week, however, the Blackhawks star forward netted the 400th goal of his career and we thought it time that we look back on the milestone and those that came before it for Kane. Better yet, we decided to look back upon the goaltenders he victimized in those key moments over his career.
First Career Goal (Oct. 19, 2007)
After debuting for the Blackhawks on Oct. 4, 2007, against Minnesota, Kane recorded his first point in his second game with an assists in a 4-3 shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings. But it wasn’t until his seventh game that he finally got on the scoresheet with a goal. It came on Oct. 19, 2007, in a game against the Colorado Avalanche and Jose Theodore.
Theodore was in his second full season with the Avalanche and putting up mediocre numbers at the time. The goal was part of a three-point night for Kane, which included two assists as his team skated to a 5-3 win.
Kane scored the third goal for the Blackhawks in the first period to give his team a 3-0 lead after just 20 minutes. It was his second point of the game and he later added the second assist on a Tuomo Ruutu goal that would stand as the game winner.
As for what he’s done against the Avalanche and Theodore over his career, he has 18 goals and 48 points in 52 games against Colorado along with three goals and nine points in eight games against Theodore.
100th Career Goal (Mar. 14, 2011)
Three and a half years after his first career NHL goal, Kane reached another goal milestone in a game against Antero Niittymaki and the San Jose Sharks – tallying his 100th career goal on Mar. 14, 2011 in Chicago.
Kane became the third fastest Blackhawks player to reach the century mark with the franchise behind only Jeremy Roenick and Bobby Hull – that was until Alex DeBrincat did it in 50 fewer games (305 GP) during the 2020-21 season.
Kane added an assist in the affair, giving him two goals and three points over two regular season contests against Niittymaki over his career and he has had continued success against the Sharks throughout his career – including 10 goals and 34 points in just 42 regular season games.
200th Career Goal (Jan. 20, 2015)
It took Kane nearly four more calendar years before he reached the next step in his chain of milestones – his 200th career NHL goal. The Blackhawks were at home to the Arizona Coyotes and Mike Smith was in net for the visiting team.
After an assist on the Blackhawks first goal – a power play tally by Jonathan Toews – it took Kane until 3:51 of the second period to notch his 22nd goal of the season and his 200th goal of his NHL career.
The goal came off a two-on-two in which Brad Richards fired the puck on Smith, before Kane cleaned up the rebound giving the Blackhawks a 3-0 lead at the time on their way to a 6-1 victory. At the time, Kane became the 42nd American-born player to reach the 200-goal plateau, a feat that still only consists of 57 players all-time.
As for what Kane’s done in his career against the Coyotes and Smith, he has 16 goals and 49 points in 41 career games against the Coyotes and has thwarted Smith over his career with 12 goals and 30 points in 22 regular season games – adding another five assists in seven playoff games against Smith over his career.
300th Career Goal (Dec. 23, 2017)
Two full years later, Kane snapped home his 300th career goal and joined some impressive company as one of just 22 American-born players to reach that mark. The goal came in a late-December game against the New Jersey Devils and Cory Schneider.
The goal – a second-period tally – was the 15th of the season for Kane and the only goal for the Blackhawks in a 4-1 loss at the hands of the Devils. It wasn’t his most highlight-worthy goal, but regardless, Kane skated through the neutral zone and over the blue line before writing it just inside the line past Schneider to give him 300 goals for his career.
While he hasn’t seen the Devils as much during his career, he still averages over a point per game against them. In 20 games played, he has eight goals and 21 points over his career.
As for Schneider, Kane has recorded seven goals and 15 points in 13 regular season games against the goaltender, with another point in two postseason matchups against him.
400th Career Goal (Feb. 28, 2021)
Kane’s most recent milestone marker came just over three years from his 300th goal – thanks, in large part, to the shortened pandemic seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Still, on Feb. 28, 2021, Kane became just the 10th American-born player to reach 400 career regular season goals and the only active player to hold the mark. He’s also one of just 100 players in the history of the NHL to reach the 400-goal plateau.
The milestone goal came midway through the third period in a 7-2 thrashing of the lowly Detroit Red Wings with Thomas Greiss in net – having arguably one of the worst NHL seasons by a goaltender.
Coming down on a two-on-one, Kane decided to keep the puck. He toe-dragged into the slot past the sliding defender before firing home the team’s fifth goal of the game. He added two assists for a three-point game, but the goal was the main focal point of his night.
Scoring his 400th career goal, put Kane in some illustrious Blackhawks company. In fact, he’s just the fourth player in franchise history to reach the mark – joining the likes of Bobby Hull (604), Stan Mikita (541) and Steve Larmer (406).
As for what he’s done over his career against the Red Wings and Greiss, Kane has 17 goals and 52 points in 55 regular season games against the Red Wings. Against Greiss, Kane has seen action in eight games with him between the pipes tallying four goals and 10 points over that span.
With 500 goals very much a possibility for the former London Knights star, there will surely be a number of other goalies victimized by Kane before his career is over.
Andrew is in his 8th year reporting for The Hockey Writers covering the Toronto Maple Leafs. He began his broadcasting with CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada team as well as being part of their coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. He’s the former play-by-play voice of the London Jr. Knights for Rogers TV and currently hosts the Sticks in the 6ix podcast. You can follow him on Twitter at @AndrewGForbes.