Patrick Kane has experienced a lot of highs over his decorated NHL career. His late penalty in the Red Wings' 5-4 loss to the Wild on Sunday was one of his lowest lows.
"It was tough, for sure, especially right after the game," Kane said Tuesday. "I’ve played in the league 19 years, and you play long enough, you can be the hero a lot of times, or you can be the goat. And I think looking back on that play, and just how I felt after the game, is probably, maybe the worst I’ve felt personally in my career, just letting the team down and the position we were in."
"You think about it, you let it linger and then you try to move on. Obviously it’s one of those plays where you wish you had 10 seconds of your life back and you could take it back, but you try to move on from it."
The sequence of events was crushing for the Red Wings. A couple minutes after Kane capped off a furious rally from a 4-1 deficit by tying the game with about 5:30 to play, he took a needless tripping penalty on Quinn Hughes in the neutral zone. Kane was going for a change and Hughes was headed toward his own zone when Kane tried to obstruct Hughes' path and wound up taking him down with his stick.
Wild star Kirill Kaprizov scored on the ensuing power play to send the Wings to a demoralizing loss in their pursuit of a playoff spot.
Patrick Kane, after scoring the tying goal in a wild 3 goal comeback, takes one of the most needless, stupid penalties I've ever seen late in the 3rd period, leading to a Minnesota goal & a regulation loss for Detroit with their season on the line.
Can't believe it. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/z9YQirClyp
— Ryan Hana (@RyanHanaWWP) April 5, 2026
"Lapse in judgement, for sure," said Kane. "Looking back at the play, I’ve watched it, obviously, numerous times, just going for a change, probably trying to get in front of Quinn a little bit and give a little bit of interference and stick got caught up in between his legs. Obviously didn’t mean to do that or take a penalty at that time of the game, but nonetheless, have to take responsibility for what happened there. Just sucks that at that time, that moment, down 4-1, Coach challenges you, you come back and make it 4-4, and then give it away in one stupid play.
"Yeah, it’s not a good feeling, for sure. Feel like you let the teammates down. And after all we’d been through in that game to come back and maybe get a point or two, disappointing to end up with nothing."
Kane said he rewatched the play as much as he did "just trying to see exactly what happened." And while he didn't intend to get his stick in between Hughes' legs, "I don’t want to say it’s a bad break because it was a stupid thing to do. Probably should have just went to the bench and got off the ice," he said.
It marked the end of a costly weekend for the Red Wings, who also lost 4-1 to a depleted Rangers team on Saturday. But they're still in a slow-moving race for the final wild card spot in the East. They're two points behind Ottawa and a point behind the Islanders entering a crucial game Tuesday night at home against the Blue Jackets, who are tied with the Red Wings at 88 points. The Flyers are also in the picture, third in the Metro with 90 points.
"That’s the thing," said Kane. "Five games left and we gotta take 'em one game at a time. Obviously tonight’s a huge one, and obviously we want to get off to a better start than we did the other night and have a better overall game, but hopefully we can take some of the things we did in the third period and use them to our start tonight."
The first couple periods have become an increasing problem for the Red Wings, who have grown far too familiar with three-goal deficits. They've picked up just four of a possible 16 points in their last eight games, falling below the playoff cutline in the process.
"It’s been an issue, obviously," said Kane. "Going back these last couple weeks, our starts have been not good enough, except for maybe the games in Buffalo, Philadelphia. ... The biggest thing is not waiting around. You can’t wait for one guy to do it. You gotta go do it yourself. And obviously everyone has their role within the team and what they’re supposed to do, but there’s still ways to bring energy and excitement and some pop to the lineup.
"Obviously we want to start that earlier than we have, but I think what we did in that third period (on Sunday), hopefully gives us a little momentum going into this game."
