[March 10, 2014]BUFFALO, N.Y. — Right wing Patrick
Kane does not get to play in front of his hometown crowd very often, but
when he does he sure makes it count.
With a highlight-reel goal in the first period, the Buffalo
native helped lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a 2-1 victory over the
Buffalo Sabres Sunday night.
"It's a good feeling," Kane said. "You want to play well any time
you get a chance to play in front of your home crowd because being
in the Western Conference it just doesn't happen too often. I think
this is my fourth time in seven years playing here, so it's always
exciting to come back."
Three minutes into the game, Kane put the Blackhawks (38-13-14) on
the board with a goal to remember. With a burst of speed, Kane
skated by Sabres defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, cut to his left and
unleashed a wrist shot that went through defender Chad Ruhwedel's
legs and past
Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth high to the glove side.
Kane ended a five-game goal drought and now has seven points (four
goals, three assists) in eight career games against the Sabres.
"I thought Kane was special, very dangerous," Blackhawks coach Joel
Quenneville said. "He had some great looks and great opportunities
and a beautiful goal as well. He was a threat and had the puck on
his stick tonight, very dangerous and nice to see him play well here
at home."
Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews scored the game-winner early in
the final period, extending his goal streak to four games. Toews has
six goals in his last four games. Goalie Corey Crawford made 20
saves.
Right winger Drew Stafford scored for the Sabres (19-37-8), who hung
with the Blackhawks for much of the game but were unable to net a
late equalizer. Enroth continued his recent stretch of strong play
between the pipes and made 29 saves.
"I think we did pretty well overall," said Enroth, who has taken the
reins in goal after the Sabres traded Ryan Miller to the St. Louis
Blues. "I thought that was a pretty solid game from our side."
"They're one of the No. 1 teams in the league and we gave them the
respect of that and we played them pretty hard," said newly acquired
Sabres winger Cory Conacher. "Jhonas made some big saves at key
moments. Crawford made some big saves. We missed a couple of
opportunities that we could've put the puck in the net so it
could've went either way."
Following Kane's quick strike, Stafford tied the game at 1 six
minutes later at the end of a strong rush by center Tyler Ennis and
Conacher. Conacher, who was claimed off waivers from Ottawa on March
5 and played in his first game as a Sabre, skated around the
aggressive Crawford but was off target with his opportunity to put
it in the open net. Luckily for him, Stafford was in the crease to
tap home his 11th goal of the season.
Toews scored the game-winner 1:34 into the third after two pretty
cross-ice passes in the Buffalo end. Center Andrew Shaw first
connected with left wing Patrick Sharp going from the right to left
circle. Sharp then found Toews to his right, who had an open net to
shoot at. It was Toews' 25th goal of the season.
"I think he's returned from the Olympics in great shape, very
confident," Quenneville said. "The puck seems to be falling along
there no matter who's his linemates, he's had a couple different
linemates over the last five games. He just seems to have the knack,
has good pace with it, has the puck a lot as well, and then he's
around the net. He's been getting rewarded."
Both goalies made their share of top-notch saves throughout. Enroth
held strong on a breakaway from Kane with eight minutes left in the
second period and helped the Sabres kill off four second-period
penalties.
Crawford began the third period with a big save on Buffalo center
Cody Hodgson and extended for a glove save on Ennis with just over
five minutes remaining.
"It was kind of one of those games where they were hanging around
and that could be dangerous sometimes," Crawford said. "So we were
able to play the right way and not try and force things cause we
weren't scoring many goals. It was good of us to stay patient."
NOTES: RW Marian Hossa (upper body), D Michal Rozsival and D Sheldon
Brookbank were scratched for the Blackhawks. Hossa is expected to
miss another week. ... RW Chris Stewart (lower body), C Torrey
Mitchell (lower body), C Zemgus Girgensons (lower body) and D
Alexander Sulzer were scratched for the Sabres. Buffalo interim
coach Ted Nolan said before the game that Girgensons and Mitchell
will miss one week, while Stewart will be out longer. ... This was
the second of two meetings between the Blackhawks and Sabres this
season. The Blackhawks won the first meeting 2-1 in Chicago on Oct.
12. ... This was the 113th game all-time between the two teams.
