NHL Scores: Patrick Kane scores 400, Eichel contradicts coach after Sabres loss, and more
Anthony Scultore
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Patrick Kane became only the fifth U.S. born player to score 400 goals in the NHL at the age of 32 or younger. Ahead of him are Pat Lafontaine, Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk, and Mike Modano.
NHL Scores: Kane scores career goal 400 in Blackhawks win
The Blackhawks (12-7-4) lit up the Red Wings (7-14-3) by a score of 7-2. Patrick Kane led the offensive charge with a goal and two assists in the romp. He now has 34 points and moves into a second place tie with Leon Draisaitl for overall scoring. Kane is six points from Connor McDavid for the league scoring lead.
“When I was getting toward the top of the circle, I saw [Hronek] was going to try and slide, tried to slow up, make a move and hit a spot with my shot,” Kane said via NHL.com. “Nice to see it go in, but no matter the milestone, you’re always just trying to make the right play out there.”
NHL Scores: Flyers shutout Sabres again, Eichel contradicts coach
The Flyers (11-4-3) took it to the Sabres (6-10-3) again. This time it was Carter Hart on the 3-0 blanking. James van Riemsdyk scored his 10th of the year in Alain Vigneault’s 700th career win. However, the drama continues in Buffalo as Jack Eichel contradicted his coach’s reasoning for being scratched against NJ on Thursday.
“When I mentioned it, the specific region that actually took him out of the game, the first time I’d heard about it was warmup,” head coach Ralph Krueger told the media on Sunday. “The point is that he came out of Jersey hurt. The warmup call and the region that ended up being (aggravated), it was his first time back in his skates since that game and it changed the game.”
This just keeps getting more ridiculous for the franchise and their fans. If you missed it yesterday, Eichel apparently wanted out of Buffalo this summer.
NHL Scores: Top teams in the East all win
The Flyers winning was also met by victories of all three team ahead of them in the standings. It started with the Bruins (12-5-2) bouncing back to beat the Rangers (7-9-3) 4-1. Then it was followed up by a solid Capitals (12-5-4) win over the Devils (7-8-2) by a 3-2 score. And finally an Ilya Sorokin 2-0 shutout for the Islanders (11-6-4) over the Penguins (11-8-1).
As of this morning this is how tight the East is:
- WSH 28 pts
- BOS 26 pts
- NYI 26 pts
- PHI 25 pts
- PIT 23 pts
Finally, in the Central division the Predators (10-11) beat a floundering Blues Jackets (8-10-5) teams 3-1. For John Tortorella it was the team’s 5th straight loss. When asked if he was worried about his job, his reply was quick and simple.
“You know what … I never worry about that,” Tortorella said. “I do my job the best I can. If people want to make decisions on me, that’s their decision. I never worry about that. I go about my business, and I’m going to coach this team the best way I possibly can.”
Torts via The Athletic