….the Sabres were better in a 3-1 win over the Blackhawks.

In recent years a visit to Buffalo by the Blackhawks would be an event that would draw little interest and plenty of empty seats. Yet thanks to the presence of Patrick Kane rolling into town tonight was going to be a bit different.

From the time the PA system pumped out the strands of Chicago’s “Saturday in the Park” to the nice applause to hearing Kane’s name in the starting lineups to the wonderful pregame ceremony involving Kane, Brian Campbell and their respective fathers to the great ovation they received. It was quite obvious that the fans of Buffalo, Sabres and bandwagon Blackhawk alike gave Kane a warm welcome home to Buffalo.

“OK kid, now just disappear into the background for the night, will ya.” I thought to myself as the puck dropped.

Except Kane wasn’t finished on center stage just yet, because just two and a half minutes in he took in a nice feed from Patrick Sharp and fired it past Ryan Miller from the slot for a 1-0 lead. About five minutes later in the period he would get on the stats sheet again with a penalty for hooking.

The goal by Kane would hold the lead for Chicago through the end of the period and into the next until Thomas Vanek scored his tenth goal of the season with the man advantage on a similar play from Derek Roy. The Sabres would then break the tie about halfway through on a great effort from Drew Stafford as he scored from the slot as his momentum was taking him away from the net.

With the Sabres holding onto a slim lead heading into the final stanza someone needed to step up and play the hero, and for tonight that person would be Ryan Miller. Miller stopped all eight Blackhawk shots with his best stop coming on a point blank stop of Tuomo Ruutu with about six minutes to go in the game. Jason Pominville would put the icing on this victory with an empty netter with about a minute and a half left to go. Ruff praised Miller afterward stating that ” we needed a save and he gave it to us” referring to the Ruutu save.

After the game Kane had a few quick comments on the night, he couldn’t stay long with the media since he had so much family to see after the game and so little time before having to head onto a plane for Chicago.

“It was one of the best nights of my life.” The night’s third star said “It was fun all the way from the pregame skate, one step at a time all the way through.” and said that “it was nice to get the goal(Kane hadn’t scored in thirteen games)” and he got a kick out of the fact that he was actually cheered for getting the penalty in the first period.

Coach Ruff had his quips on the whole thing himself….”his dad and grandpa hadn’t gotten to their seat….so I heard” referring to the goal he scored. “I’m happy for him, it’s awesome that he’s from Buffalo and he’s the first pick….I just wish he’d scored another night”.

Maybe lost amidst all of the Kane hype is that the Sabres are on a bit of a roll. Since Andrew and I left the debacle at Staples Center nine days ago Buffalo has won four of their last five(including) and has looked darn good doing it with even their one loss to the Bruins being a respectable outing. The team’s resurgence has brought them to within one point of eighth seeded Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference, how ’bout that!

The Sabres get a few days off before heading out to Long Island on Wednesday followed by a Friday/Saturday home and home with Philadelphia. Have to wonder what reaction the home fans will give ex Sabres Danny Briere and Martin Biron in their first game in Buffalo since leaving the Sabres.

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