Kane returns to Buffalo, hopes to end Sabres winning streak with Sharks

BUFFALO -- Evander Kane was back on KeyBank Center ice Monday for the first time since the Buffalo Sabres traded him to the San Jose Sharks prior to the NHL Trade Deadline last season.

"It's fun," the forward said. "I ran into a couple of guys in the hallway, a bunch of staff. It was good to see some familiar faces."
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While some things are familiar, the success of his former team isn't. The Sabres (16-6-2) are in second place in the Atlantic Division, one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning. They will try to win their 10th straight game, which would match the longest streak in their history, against the Sharks on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, SNP, MSG-B, NBCSA, NHL.TV).
Buffalo finished with an NHL-low 62 points last season. The Sabres were 87-106-34 with Kane over the past three seasons before he was traded Feb. 26 for forward Danny O'Regan, a conditional first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.
Kane had 118 points (60 goals, 58 assists) in 196 games with Buffalo.
"I wish during my time here it would have been the way it is now, obviously," he said. "Nobody wants to lose consistently. ... That's never fun, that's never what you want as a player. At the same time, I'm happy where I am. I'm enjoying my time in San Jose and so far, it's been fantastic."

Kane is fourth on the Sharks with seven goals and is sixth with 15 points (eight assists). He had 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in 17 regular-season games last season after the trade and had five points (four goals, one assist) in nine Stanley Cup Playoff games.
"In a league where everybody's looking for speed and back-you-off type speed, he brings that. That's probably the best asset he brings," San Jose coach Peter DeBoer said. "The second-best asset for me that he's given us is a physical presence in the lineup every night, where guys really think twice about taking liberties.
"The change I saw in that from when he showed up and started playing for us to a week prior, even, when he wasn't in our lineup, was significant. … I think the whole group appreciates that."
Kane has already faced his former team this season; the Sharks defeated the Sabres 5-1 in San Jose on Oct. 18. It was a second straight loss in regulation for Buffalo, which hasn't gone more than a game with at least a point in in the 17 games since (13-2-2).
"They seem to be playing with a lot of confidence," he said of the Sabres, who had 10-game winning streaks in 1983-84 and 2006-07. "They're firing on all cylinders right now. That's how you win nine games in a row. We're looking forward to the challenge and hopefully ending that tomorrow night."