When the Buffalo Sabres started their 2016-17 season, there were plenty of fans who were waiting for Evander Kane to fail.
Public perception seemed to have Kane pegged as a troubled player and possible locker room cancer, and who could blame for fans for thinking that, based on some of the shenanigans Kane had pulled, both as a player with the Winnipeg Jets and since being traded to the Buffalo Sabres.
Making matters worse, Kane cracked a handful of ribs in just the first game of the season, missed some time, and then struggled to score. It took Kane 13 games to find the back of the net, but then a funny thing happened: until failing to score during Buffalo’s recent stretch of games that featured Detroit, Montreal and Nashville, Kane had not strung together three straight goalless since scoring his first goal on December 3.