Kane sets U.S. scoring record in Red Wings shootout loss to Capitals

DETROIT -- Patrick Kane had an assist in the second period to set the NHL record for points by a United States-born player, but the Washington Capitals recovered from the Detroit Red Wings' late rally for a 4-3 shootout win at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday.

Kane broke the record on a rush at 9:52 of the second. He passed to Alex DeBrincat, who slid the puck to Ben Chiarot for a slap shot that beat Charlie Lindgren to tie it 1-1 and give Kane his 1,375th point (500 goals, 875 assists in 1,342 games), breaking Mike Modano’s record.

“That’s a very special feeling,” Kane said. “It came on such a great play. (Andrew Copp) hit me with a pass, I got it to (DeBrincat) and he hit the late guy coming in, and then a great shot by (Chiarot).”

Kane was mobbed by his teammates, with the Capitals showing respect by banging their sticks on the boards. A video tribute from Modano played during the next stoppage.

"I knew at an early age in your career you would be the one chasing this number down and here we are," Modano said.

Washington appeared to have the game won with two minutes remaining and a two-goal lead, but DeBrincat scored twice in 47 seconds with the Detroit net empty to tie the game 3-3.

Dylan Strome had a goal and an assist for the Capitals (26-22-7), who had lost six of their past seven games (1-5-1). Nic Dowd and Declan Chisholm also scored for the Capitals while Jakob Chychrun had three assists. Lindgren made 18 saves.

“This is the way we’ve wanted to play for a long time,” Chychrun said. “It’s nice to feel we are back to doing that again.”

DeBrincat finished with three points, and John Gibson made 20 saves for Detroit (32-17-6), which has lost three of four (1-2-1).

“It is great to be a part of history, but we didn’t play a great game,” DeBrincat said. “I’m not happy to be coming out of here with only one point, but we did get that point.”

Dowd gave Washington a 1-0 lead at 6:27, beating Gibson over his glove from the left face-off circle after a pass from Connor McMichael.

After Chiarot tied the game at 9:52 of the second period, the Capitals took a 2-1 lead at 9:36 of the third period. A partially blocked shot went off Gibson’s pad and the skate of Red Wings defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka. Gibson tried to cover the loose puck, but Strome tapped it away, circled the net and wrapped the puck inside the post for his 15th goal.

The Red Wings challenged for goaltender interference, but the call was confirmed.

Chisholm gave Washington a 3-1 lead at 14:44, tipping Chychrun’s shot past Gibson for his first goal of the season.

DeBrincat scored at 18:20, cutting the deficit to 3-2, then tied the game at 19:07 when his dump-in took a bad bounce off the glass and beat Lindgren for his 30th goal.

“I’ve never seen anything like that and we might never see it again,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “There’s a hole in the glass for cameras with a little door to close it, and the puck hit the hole just as the photographer was trying to close it.

“The League said if the puck had hit a camera, it wouldn’t have counted, but since it hit the door, it was a good goal.”

Lindgren was injured in the final moments of overtime, but stayed in the game for the shootout.

“Lindgren got hurt or banged up on that last sort of sequence in overtime, so now he's battling to make saves in the shootout,” Carbery said. “You have to hand it to our guys for stepping up with some big goals.”

The first four players scored in the shootout, but Dylan Larkin hit the crossbar before Dowd scored to win it.

Dowd was an unlikely choice to get the winner -- as far as he could remember, it was only the second shootout attempt of his 11-season career. While playing for the Los Angeles Kings, he missed against Connor Hellebuyck in a 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 13, 2016.

“I had one 10 years ago -- I came in and blasted it over the net and we lost,” he said. “I didn’t want (Lindgren) to have to face another shot after everything he had done to give us a chance to win.”

NOTES: Dowd was a little hazy on the details of his first shootout attempt. He thought it was in the second game of his career -- a game the Kings did lose to the Jets on March 24, 2016 -- but the shootout attempt came in his 19th game early in his second season. … Kane’s assist was his 30th point (11 goals, 19 assists) in 29 games against the Capitals. … The three-point game was the 10th of Chychrun’s career and second at Little Caesars Arena. He had two goals and an assist for the Arizona Coyotes in a 9-2 win on March 8, 2022.