Unlike when he came here as a rookie two years ago, there were no wild ovations and no goals for Patrick Kane in the second visit of his career to HSBC Arena.

Sure, the Chicago Blackhawks' star from South Buffalo had a cheering section of two suites

of family and friends for Friday night's game. But in the wake of his celebrated summer dustup

with a Buffalo cabbie, Sabres fans mostly greeted Kane with boos every time he touched the

puck.

Can't boo Kane's performance. He played 23:04 (tops among Hawks forwards) and was on the

ice for 8:41 of the third period when he was buzzing the Buffalo zone. Kane had seven shots on

goal and made a nifty pass to get the assist on Patrick Sharp's goal early in the third

period.

Still, Kane was disappointed the Hawks' 40-shot effort resulted in a 2-1 loss.

"I guess it's kind of a privilege to be booed," joked Kane. "That's to be expected.

Overall, I thought it was pretty good. You saw a lot of Blackhawks jerseys in the crowd. There

were a couple signs that weren't so bright but the reception was good. I had a lot of friends

and family here and that's what Buffalo is all about."

"The second period wasn't one of our best obviously but the third we took it to them. We

had more urgency."

It was a busy, busy day for Kane. A couple hundred folks were in the stands for the morning

skate and he did a 10-minute press conference at his locker following the workout.

In the afternoon, it was off to a ceremony where he presented a $5,000 check to the Food

Bank of Western New York followed by a meal at Chef's.

"Once you go on the ice, that's almost the easiest part," he said. "It was fun to do all

that and then fun to go out there and play in a building I have so many memories in watching

games, playing ministicks in the halls."

After setting up the Chicago goal, Kane was robbed by a glove save from ex-teammate Patrick

Lalime with 16:41 to play on a wicked wrist shot.

"I changed the angle, pulled it in on the defenseman and tried to wire one top shelf," Kane

said. "But I probably shouldn't have texted him "top glove' before the game as a joke. He

caught me on that one. I"m sure we'll laugh about it later."

A smiling Lalime confirmed the text came from Kane around the noon hour.

"I was expecting that all night long and it finally came in the third," Lalime said. "He's

playing back home and he had a little extra motivation."

. . .

Kane said it was a thrill to play against South Buffalo childhood friend Tim Kennedy. They

started against each other and even bumped in the corner in one third-period exchange but

there was no first fight in the NHL between the pair as they joked about earlier in the week.

"Playing against him was pretty cool and lining up against him was great," Kane said. "We

didn't say too much out there, maybe a couple words. We tapped shinpads at the end of the game

though, said "good game.' He played great. I thought he was a key player for them."

"[Kennedy] played very well going head to head with him," said Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff.

"Kane versus Kennedy didn't take place and I was disappointed. It would have been the first

bantamweight fight of the year."

. . .

The Sabres had a moment of silence prior to the game for winger Mike Grier's mother, who

passed away earlier in the week and was buried Friday. Ruff said he expects Grier to rejoin

the team soon but didn't know if he would play tonight in New York against the Rangers.

. . .

Sharp's goal snapped Buffalo's shutout string at 139 minutes, 51 seconds. ... The Sabres

improved to 6-0 against the Western Conference while the Hawks fell to 5-1-1 against the East.

... Buffalo penalty killers are 48 for 52 the last 15 games.