Kane hoping to make history in front of friends and family

The Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings held optional skates at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.

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Patrick Kane is just two points away from tying Mike Modano for the most points ever recorded by an American-born player.

“Whenever it happens, it happens, but hopefully sooner rather than later,” the Red Wings winger said. “Yeah, it’d be nice to get a couple tonight.”

Kane, who has amassed 1,372 points in 1,337 games, is from Buffalo and is hoping to make history in front of some friends on Wednesday night when the Red Wings take on the Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.

“Couple buddies coming in,” the 37-year-old confirmed with a grin. “You never know with my dad. I mean, he might show up, he might not.”

Kane has eight multi-point games this season with his only three-point effort coming against the Leafs back in October.

“Body feels good, which is awesome,” said Kane, who hit the 500-goal milestone earlier this month. “Feel good about my game. As a player, as an offensive player, you’re always hoping for more production. I think there’s definitely more of that to come. I feel like I’ve been a little unlucky with certain things.”

Kane has racked up 29 points in 35 games this season. He has five points in the past six games and likes the chemistry on his line with Alex DeBrincat and Andrew Copp.

“The drive goes away from people later on in life,” said Wings coach Todd McLellan. “It’s hard to keep it up, but his drive has not diminished one bit. In fact, I think with some of these attainable goals, milestones if you will, his drive has actually increased and he’s excited about being at the rink.”

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Kane always enjoys going up against Leafs centre Auston Matthews, who is second in scoring among active American players with 769 points in 672 games.

“One day he’ll probably be in the shoes I am right now,” Kane predicted. “That’s the guy, right? That’s the next guy for a lot of American kids that they’re looking up to now. He’s such a special player in a big market and scores goals as good as anyone pretty much in the league.”

Matthews is heating up since Christmas with 11 goals in 12 games.

“Seems like he’s been very driven lately,” Kane noted. “He’s kind of leading their team right now, so definitely a guy we gotta watch out for. But always fun to go up against him.”

After a slow start production-wise, at least by his lofty standards, Matthews is looking more and more like the guy who scored 69 goals in the 2023-24 season.

“He’s a 70-goal scorer,” said McLellan. “Those don’t grow on trees. And when you’re hot and you’re feeling good, you can score from just about anywhere on the ice. He’s feeling it right now. He can take over a game just on his own. So, we’ll have to be aware of that.”

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Leafs winger Max Domi lights up when asked about playing with Kane in Chicago during the 2022-23 season.

“He’s the best,” Domi said. “I look up to him like an older brother. He gets mad at me for saying it, but I always looked up to him as a kid.”

Kane recalls hearing about that for the first time when the pair shared a ride together during a thunderstorm in New York.

“We went to the US Open, the tennis, myself and my agent, we couldn’t find a ride after,” Kane said. “It was raining pretty hard and we jumped in with Tie [Domi] and Max. Tie was in the front seat just kind of giving it to Max, like, ‘Tell Kaner how much you loved him when you were younger.’"

“When I got to play with him, it was certainly a highlight of my whole career,” Domi said.

Domi’s love for passing the puck was cultivating by watching YouTube videos of Kane, among others, growing up. Domi is now passing along some of the lessons he picked up from Kane to Leafs rookieEaston Cowan.

Domi and Cowan worked on backhand saucer passes at the Leafs optional skate on Wednesday.

“Just how to keep them a bit flatter and follow through a bit more,” said Cowan. “He’s a great passer and one of the game’s best, so just learning from him has helped me out a lot.”

With the schedule so busy, most of the Leafs opted to stay off the ice on Wednesday morning. Cowan and Domi were among just five regulars to gear up.

“Love getting out there with this guy,” said Domi while nodding towards Cowan, who sits beside him in the dressing room. “Obviously, just working at the game and then trying to keep the hands fresh.”

Domi, Cowan and Kane are all alumni of the London Knights.

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Craig Berube pulled Joseph Woll after the goalie allowed five goals on 29 shots in the first two periods of Monday’s loss to the Minnesota Wild. But the coach will go back to Woll once again on Wednesday against the Wings.

“Tough game,” Berube said of Monday’s loss. “With the travel [back from the West] and everything, our team wasn’t at our best. I don’t think we gave him the opportunity to be successful in that game. He’s been our guy, so that’s why I’m going with him.”

The games are coming fast and furious, but Berube isn’t concerned about Woll’s workload.

“I’m not overly worried right now,” Berube said. “I think he’s in a good place. We rotated on the road. I feel he’s fine in that department.”

Woll and Dennis Hildeby split the four starts during the recent road trip with Hildeby picking up the win on Saturday in Winnipeg.

Woll has allowed 11 goals while losing his last two starts. Hildeby’s save percentage (.912 in 19 games) is now better than Woll’s (.910 in 20 games).

John Gibson (.902 save percentage in 30 games) gets the start for the Wings.

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The Leafs, who are 2-2-1 in their last five games, enter Wednesday’s game two points out of a playoff spot.

“Huge game,” said Berube. “You gotta take a playoff-type approach to it. You don’t want to get ahead of yourself. Just tonight’s game, that’s all that matters, but you gotta have that mindset, in my opinion, right now.”

The Wings have won all three games against the Leafs and are eight points ahead of them in the Atlantic Division standings.

“We got to get back to our game,” said defenceman Troy Stecher. “Kind of a one-off last game, and understanding the magnitude of tonight. Division rival and these points are crucial.”

After missing Tuesday’s practice for maintenance, Stecher skated on Wednesday morning and is ready to play.

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The Wings have missed the playoffs in nine straight seasons, but look poised to end that drought this year.

Berube points to the development of Moritz Seider, 24, and Simon Edvinsson, 22, as a key part of the turnaround.

“There’s a certain amount of games defencemen need to play in the NHL before they’re at a real good level,” Berube said. “And I think they’re there. I think that pairing is excellent. It’s big, skates, mobile, they do it all.”

Seider is averaging 25 minutes and 16 seconds of ice time per game, which ranks fifth overall.

“He’s a workhorse,” said McLellan. “If we were rating our engines, he’s the No. 1 engine on our team. He doesn’t seem to tire. He doesn’t wear down ... He’ll come off for a 15-second rest and then it’s like he’s ready to go again.”

McLellan notes that the respect for Seider is growing around the league. So, how much time does the German Olympian spend thinking about the potential to be in the Norris Trophy mix?

“Zero times, to be honest,” Seider said. “There’s so much other stuff going on. I got plenty of work to do on the ice. I don’t read any comments. I don’t even read the standings. It’s just too much noise from the outside. We play so many games and if I would check the standings I would see teams switching back and forth every single minute. So, it’s not worth it and it’s definitely not worth listening to any outsiders, in my opinion, because I know what’s going on in this locker room and it’s very special. I’m just very proud to be a part of that team.”

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Projected Leafs lineup for Wednesday’s game:

McMann - Matthews - Domi

Maccelli - Tavares - Knies

Cowan - Roy - Robertson

Lorentz - Laughton - Jarnkrok

McCabe - Ekman-Larsson

Rielly - Carlo

Benoit - Stecher

Woll starts

Hildeby

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