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It was a game the Detroit Red Wings needed to have, and in the end, they got the job done.
Future Hall of Fame forward Patrick Kane scored twice on St. Patrick’s Day Eve, helping Detroit pick up a 5-2 victory at Little Caesars Arena over the visiting Calgary Flames, the 31st-ranked team in the NHL.
With the win, the Red Wings are now tied with the Montreal Canadiens with 82 points apiece, but remain in the first Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference. The Boston Bruins, who were beaten in overtime by the New Jersey Devils, are in the WC2 spot with 81 points.
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It was the Flames who capitalized in the opening 20 minutes of play, getting a goal from Morgan Frost at the 17:35 mark.
However, Detroit didn’t have to wait long to knot the score once the second period began. Kane scored the 503rd goal of his career at 1:03, beating goaltender Dustin Wolf on a breakaway after taking a feed from Alex DeBrincat.
It was another milestone marker for Kane, who passed Joe Mullen for the fourth-most goals scored by a U.S.-born player in NHL history.
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Detroit would soon strike twice in short order, starting with a tally from rookie Emmitt Finnie; he capitalized on a pretty three-way passing play from Lucas Raymond and Albert Johansson and had a tap-in at the side of the net.
Just 1:31 later, Kane finished another nifty feed from DeBrincat, redirecting the pass on his backhand past Wolf for career goal No. 504.
While Calgary got a fortunate bounce when Matt Coronato’s pass on a two-on-one rush deflected off defenseman Moritz Seider past John Gibson, the 2022 Calder Trophy winner soon got the last laugh.
Seider restored Detroit’s two-goal lead with a laser of a wrist shot past the blocker of Wolf while on the power-play for his ninth goal of the season.
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Dominik Shine, who dropped the gloves during the first period and had tallied the first NHL goal of his career in last week’s win over the Devils, capped the scoring with his second NHL goal while Wolf was on the bench for an extra attacker.
Gibson finished with 25 saves, while Wolf countered with 20 saves.
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