DETROIT — Patrick Kane smiled. The wait was over.

Kane became the highest-scoring United States-born player in NHL history, passing Mike Modano with an assist for his 1,375th point on an assist Thursday night for the Detroit Red Wings against the Washington Capitals.

“It’s nice to have it over with in some ways and worry about the rest of the season,” Kane said after Washington’s 4-3 shootout win.

Kane passed the puck from the boards to Alex DeBrincat in the left circle, and DeBrincat set up Ben Chiarot for a tying goal from the point midway through the second period.

Kane flashed a grin and hugged Chiarot.

He was surrounded by teammates, including those who emptied the bench to join a brief celebration. As Kane skated away, the spotlight was put on him and he raised his stick to acknowledge the crowd while appearing to be on the verge of tears.

His likeness was shown on the videoboards at Little Caesars Arena with an American flag in the background and the number 1,375.

Modano held the mark for 18-plus years. Kane reached the milestone a couple of months after turning 37, while Modano was 40 when he scored a goal to register point No. 1,374, passing Phil Housley.

“I knew at an early age in your career you would be the one chasing this number down and here we are,” Modano said in a prerecorded message played on the videoboards. “Continue on and make this number harder for the next guy.”

Kane has been one of the faces of American hockey since getting taken with the first pick in the 2007 draft by Chicago. He helped the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup three times from 2010-15 as a co-headliner of one of the most successful runs since the league’s salary cap era began in ’05.

“When you think of USA Hockey, he’s one of the first players that comes to mind, if not the first player,” fellow American Jack Eichel said. “Such a great representation of USA Hockey and us Americans — something for a lot of the guys that came after him to strive to be, myself included.”

U.S.-born defenseman Charlie McAvoy recalled watching Kane on those long runs “do stuff that at the time people didn’t do.”

“His type of player just transcends now, when back then there wasn’t anybody that was really doing that,” U.S.-born defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. “He changed the game of hockey. He’s an absolute legend. And it’s great that he’s an American.”

Earlier this month, Kane became the 50th player and fifth American to score 500 goals, following Keith Tkachuk, Jeremy Roenick and Joe Mullen. Brett Hull, a dual citizen who was born in Canada and played internationally for the U.S., had 741 goals and 1,391 points.

“He’s well on his way to being the best USA player of all time,” countryman Jack Hughes said.

Kane won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in ’07-08, the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2013 and the Hart Trophy as regular-season MVP in 2015-16, when he also led the league in scoring.

“Such an iconic player, just played with such passion,” said Tage Thompson, who’s a first-time U.S. Olympian this year. “Very enthusiastic, loved scoring goals, loved making plays.”

Kane’s slick hands more than made up for him being on the smaller side at 5-foot-10 and under 180 pounds.

“He’s maybe got the best highlight reel of all time,” Hughes said. “Just as a kid, you watch all of his videos and everything, and you’re like, that’s the guy you want to be just because of how skilled he is.”

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Nico Hischier scored 42 seconds into overtime to give the Devils a 3-2 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night after New Jersey’s Jack Hughes left the game in the first period and didn’t return.

Hischier’s slap shot from just beyond the left faceoff circle beat Nashville’s Justus Annunen high to the glove side for the winner. Dawson Mercer picked up the assist on Hischier’s eighth career overtime goal. Hischier leads the Devils with 18 goals and 23 assists in 54 games.

New Jersey’s Jesper Bratt tied the game at 2 midway through the third. Dougie Hamilton also scored for the Devils, who snapped a two-game skid. Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves.

Hughes left the game after three shifts in the first period. The team did not announce any injury status for the 24-year-old center.

Hughes’ latest absence comes two weeks before the U.S. is set to play its first game at the Milan Cortina Olympics. Hughes, along with brother Quinn, is a first-time Olympian. The U.S. has two sets of brothers, with Matthew and Brady Tkachuk also on the team.

Michael McCarron and Filip Forsberg scored for Nashville, which lost its third straight. Annunen made 32 saves.

McCarron staked Nashville to an early lead with a goal five minutes into the first period. Hamilton tied it at 1 midway through the second, extending his points streak to nine games.

Forsberg gave the Predators the lead 1:34 into the third period. With the goal, Forsberg moves into sixth place for career NHL goals by a Swedish player with 338 scores in 833 games. He trails Mats Sundin (564), Daniel Alfredsson (444), Markus Nasland (395), Tomas Sandstrom (394), Daniel Sedin (393).

Bratt’s 13 goal of the season came on a Predators turnover, flipping a shot over Annunen to tie the game.

Up next

Predators: At the New York Islanders on Saturday.

The Los Angeles Kings (22-17-13) outshot the Buffalo Sabres (31-17-5) and had a lot of chances to make this a closer game, but a pair of unlucky calls against them and a strong night from Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon and forward Alex Tuch proved too much to overcome. 

Despite playing a much better second period after a poor first, LA was unable to dig itself out of the hole at KeyBank Center, falling 4-1 in Buffalo. 

Once again, struggling early on in regulation and falling in a 2-0 hole, doomed the Kings to make any run against the home team. 

Final from Buffalo. #GoKingsGopic.twitter.com/4weiKYZIZl

— LA Kings (@LAKings) January 30, 2026

First Period: Sabres Capitalize

Buffalo struck first in the opening period. A pass from Ryan McLeod intended for Alex Tuch deflected off the Kings and slid past Darcy Kuemper for a fluky goal, giving the Sabres the early 1-0 lead. 

The Sabres added to that lead a few minutes later after a faceoff win. Matttias Samuelsson stepped from the point and beat Kuemper's glove, extending the lead 2-0 despite LA holding the edge in shots made through the first 20 minutes of regulation. 

Los Angeles had a lot of chances late in the period to score, but the defense from Lyon was excellent, with him on the crease for Buffalo, turning aside several chances the Kings had. 

Second Period: Controversial Call

The Kings appeared to get on board early in the second period when Alex Laferriere knocked off the puck past Lyon, cutting the deficit to one, but the goal was overturned after an extended review due to goalie interference between Corey Perry and Lyon. 

It was a big call: looking back on the play, it seemed the goalie had enough time to recover, but the call was upheld, and instead of 2-1, the score remained 2-0, and gave the Sabres a chance to extend it further in the second period.  

Laferriere has the puck in net for the Kings.

It's ruled a goal, but the officials huddle for an extended time and call it no goal for goalie interference after contact between Perry and Lyon.

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) January 30, 2026

Moments later, Tuch finished from the slot off a point shot to extend the score 3-0 just like that, after the overturned goal from the Kings. 

Near the end of the second period, Los Angeles finally broke through on the power play when Kevin Fiala fed Adrian Kempe off the high deflection on the power play to score, cutting the deficit to 3-1. 

Juice gets one back on the power play! pic.twitter.com/SLGFkNj2Of

— LA Kings (@LAKings) January 30, 2026

Third Period: Buffalo Seals It

Down two entering the third, the Kings were desperate for a big play to get back in the game, but they never made it, as the Sabres' defense and goaltender made it tough for Los Angeles. 

The dagger came when Tuch converted on the empty-net goal, finishing with three goals on the night and torching the Kings' defense, winning 4-1. 

The Kings finished with a 38-32 advantage in shots and a 30-9 advantage in hits, but Buffalo made most of its opportunities on the Kings' 20 giveaways, which led to extended zone time for the Sabres to convert on offense. 

It was nice to see Kuemper play well tonight after missing the last game against the Detroit Red Wings, finishing with 28 saves despite giving up three goals. 

The biggest play was obviously the overturned goal at a critical moment on Laferriere's shot, who would've made it 2-1 in the second period, but instead it was 3-0 after two periods, and Los Angeles was never able to recover from then on. 

The Los Angeles Kings drop their first game in this six-game road trip and will look to clean up this loss on Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers at 9:30 P.M. PT

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There wasn’t much mystery to this one. The game was bad early, stayed bad, and only got uglier as the night wore on.

The Colorado Avalanche were handed a 7–3 loss by the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night at Bell Centre, as the NHL’s top team dropped its second straight game in as many nights and failed to find any sustained rhythm. Colorado has now lost six of its last eight and sits at 4-4-2 over its past 10 after opening the season at a record-setting pace.

Brock Nelson, Joel Kiviranta, and Ross Colton scored for Colorado. Scott Wedgewood, returning after time away following the birth of his second child, struggled in net, surrendering seven goals on 28 shots.

Nick Suzuki led the way for Montreal with two goals and an assist. Juraj Slafkovský, Kirby Dach, Alexandre Carrier, Jake Evans, and Noah Dobson also found the back of the net, while Ivan Demidov chipped in with two assists. Jakub Dobeš made 26 saves for the Canadiens.

Brock Nelson is RED HOT 🔥

He now has 14 goals in his last 15 games! pic.twitter.com/XmAzLOji5j

— NHL (@NHL) January 30, 2026

First Period

Montreal wasted no time setting the tone. Just 56 seconds into the game, Lane Hutson found Dobson in the left circle, and the defenseman blasted a one-timer past Wedgewood to open the scoring.

Colorado responded quickly. A little more than three minutes later, Nelson continued his torrid January by toe-dragging around Hutson and snapping a wrist shot cleanly into the net to tie the game. It marked his 28th goal of the season and underscored his status as one of the league’s hottest scorers this month.

The momentum didn’t last. After Keaton Middleton was whistled for cross-checking, Suzuki capitalized on the power play by burying a rebound that kicked off Wedgewood’s pad, restoring Montreal’s lead.

The Avalanche then compounded their problems. Josh Anderson was called for tripping Martin Nečas, but Colorado’s power play imploded when they surrendered their ninth shorthanded goal of the season. Kapanen cleared the puck directly to Suzuki, who broke in alone and beat Wedgewood with a forehand fake before sliding home the backhand to make it 3–1.

Second Period

The middle frame opened with Cole Caufield taking a high-sticking penalty on Artturi Lehkonen, drawing blood but only earning a minor. Colorado couldn’t convert, and moments later frustration mounted when Nathan MacKinnon was slashed on the hands without a call.

Soon after, Sam Malinski was sent off for an accidental high stick on Demidov. While Malinski immediately apologized, Slafkovský took exception, only to be met by Valeri Nichushkin, who stepped in and dropped him with a forearm.

Midway through the period, Sam Girard nearly sparked a comeback with a breakaway, but Dobeš shut the door with a brilliant pad save.

The game took a scary turn minutes later when Josh Manson crushed Kaiden Guhle along the boards after Guhle reached for a puck with his head down. Guhle stayed down in obvious pain. Zachary Bolduc confronted Manson, but neither dropped the gloves. After review, officials assessed no penalty.

Montreal quickly made Colorado pay. Evans extended the lead after Wedgewood mishandled the puck behind his net, allowing Evans to wrap it into an empty cage. Less than a minute later, Dach added another on a wraparound that slowly trickled across the line, pushing the lead to 5–1.

Colorado finally stopped the bleeding late in the period when Kiviranta jammed home a rebound from the left doorstep off an initial shot by Malinski with 1:54 remaining.

Third Period

The Avalanche showed some life to start the third, forcing turnovers and generating early chances. On one sequence, Cale Makar tried to set up MacKinnon for a tap-in at the back door, but the puck bounced awkwardly off his stick.

Colorado broke through at 4:38 when Nichushkin danced around defenders and found Colton behind the net. Colton snapped the puck past Dobeš, ending a 25-game scoreless drought and briefly cutting the deficit to two.

Any hope of a comeback vanished quickly. Just 67 seconds later, Montreal restored its four-goal cushion on a 2-on-1 rush. After a turnover in the defensive zone, Dach fed Suzuki, who drew both Makar and Nečas before sliding a pass to Carrier in the left circle for a wide-open finish.

Slafkovský delivered the final blow midway through the period. His initial shot sailed wide, but Wedgewood slid out of position while trying to disrupt Kapanen, inadvertently pushing the puck back to Slafkovský, who calmly buried it into the open net to seal a 7–3 result.

For Colorado, it was another discouraging night that raised more questions than answers as their early-season dominance continues to fade.

Next Game

The Avalanche (35-8-9) are back in action Saturday morning, visiting Patrick Kane and the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena for an 11:30 a.m. puck drop.

Within an hour after being drafted by the Islanders, Matthew Schaefer declared in an interview with former “Entourage” star Kevin Connolly, “We’re going to beat the Rangers every time we play them.”

Schaefer’s four-leg parlay cashed Thursday night, when he scored at Madison Square Garden to help the Islanders to a 2-1 defeat of the Rangers that marked their first time sweeping the season series since 2017-18.

“Getting drafted to this team, coming to play for the Islanders, I know there’s that big rivalry,” Schaefer said inside a packed visitors locker room after the fact. “Every game from here on out’s a playoff game, especially against the Rangers. It’s a big win for us.

“Like I said before, we want to beat them every time, and we want to keep doing that because I know it makes us happy, I know it makes our fans happy, and we get two points out of it.”

It’s the third time in the history of the rivalry that the Islanders have swept the season series, having also done so in 2015-16. It’s the first time they’ve won every game in regulation and the first time they’ve gone four full games against the Rangers without trailing.

That is sweet revenge after the Rangers swept the Islanders by a combined score of 23-5 a year ago, culminating in a 9-2 embarrassment at UBS Arena that marked a low point for the Isles.

“I think we owed them one,” captain Anders Lee said. “Last year didn’t go our way. I think we evened it up.”

Since then, it has been all Islanders, starting with the lottery balls dropping in perfect sequence for their 3.5 percent chance at winning the No. 1 overall pick, and the rights to draft Schaefer. Had they beaten the Rangers just once last season, the two teams’ lottery odds would have been reversed, and he might have been skating for the other team Thursday.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST NHL STANDINGS AND ISLANDERS STATS

Instead, Schaefer was making their lives miserable — and, in the latest ignominy in what has been a veritable parade of them for the Rangers, so too was Carson Soucy.

Soucy, who scored four goals in 62 games across parts of two seasons with the Blueshirts before being traded to the Island this week, was not acknowledged on the scoreboard in his return to the Garden. He served up some revenge by lighting the lamp in his second game as an Islander, squirting a shot from the left point through Jonathan Quick’s pads to open the scoring at 17:18 of the second period.

On a night in which it was all too evident that both teams had played 24 hours prior, that seemed to give the Islanders a bit of a jolt. Schaefer’s goal came under two minutes later, as the 18-year-old whipped in a shot that beat Quick short side through Simon Holmstrom’s screen.

His 14th goal of the season broke a tie with Bobby Orr for second on the all-time defenseman goal scoring list for 18-year-olds.

“Who’s that?” Schaefer joked about Orr, who made his debut 41 years before he was born.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST NHL STANDINGS AND RANGERS STATS

The Rangers did not merely lie down from there. Mika Zibanejad’s one-timer from the left circle cut the lead to 2-1 early in the third period.

The game, which had been a dreary affair, creaked its way into life from there, and the Rangers were suddenly bearing down on Ilya Sorokin. The netminder twice stopped Gabe Perreault on grade A chances at the doorstep.

“It’s frustrating, for sure,” said J.T. Miller, having been the victim of Sorokin on a second-period slot one-timer and having drawn iron in the game’s opening minutes. “At some point, it’s hard to come up with answers other than put the puck in the net more often.”

The Islanders, who kept pace with the Penguins to stay tied on points — though behind on percentage — for second in the Metro, simply have more to play for than their counterparts right now. The most interesting thing happening for the last-place Rangers is up in Chris Drury’s box, as the team president and general manger tries to navigate a landing spot for Artemi Panarin.

On nights like this one, that seems to make all the difference.

“It was not our best game of the season, but that’s what good teams do,” coach Patrick Roy said. “They find ways to win.”