ame out and took the lead and it was too far to come back,” Pageau said.Each team scored in the first period with the Hurricanes grabbing

BUFFALO New York Islanders Hoodies Womens , N.Y. (AP) Sabres forward Evander Kane doesn’t need a fortune teller to understand he’s down to his final days in Buffalo when acknowledging he expects to be dealt before the NHL’s trading deadline on Monday.”Yeah, if that’s the answer you guys are waiting for,” Kane told reporters following practice Wednesday. ”I’m not going to get into what’s been talked about or what hasn’t been talked about, but I think you guys are all pretty smart hockey people.”The only uncertainty for Kane is when the trade will take place and where he’ll be headed.Article continues below ...”I think the hardest part is the unknown,” Kane said, in preparing to join the Sabres for a two-game road trip starting at Detroit on Thursday. ”I’m going to play as hard as I possibly can tomorrow night. And then once the move is made, then we can reflect for that day. But I’ve got a job to do.”The 26-year-old is expendable for a variety of reasons, starting with his contract which runs out after this season. The Sabres are rebuilding under a new regime, headed by first-year general manager Jason Botterill, and the team has expressed no interest in re-signing Kane, who is expected to command a hefty price tag in free agency this summer.Kane’s 19 goals in 60 games rank second in Buffalo. He’s scored 20 or more in each of his previous two years since being acquired by the Sabres in a multi-player trade with Winnipeg in February 2015.The 26-year-old is in his ninth NHL season after being selected No. 4 by the then-Atlanta Thrashers in the 2009 draft.Kane and New York Rangers forward Rick Nash are considered the two top players available on the trade market with the NHL playoff races entering the stretch run.The Sabres are on the outside looking in. They sit last in the East and are all but mathematically assured of extending their longest playoff drought to a seventh season.Also on the block in Buffalo are goalie Robin Lehner, forward Benoit Pouliot and defenseman Josh Gorges New York Islanders Hats Womens , all of whom are in the final year of their contracts.Coach Phil Housley is braced for a roster shake up and focused solely on preparing his team to play.”Number 1 is getting ready for Detroit,” Housley said. ”That’s what we control is to get our players ready. And Jason (Botterill) is going to do the best job he can moving forward here.”Kane’s pending departure marks a dramatic setback for a franchise that under former GM Tim Murray pinned its hopes on him being part of its long-term future after finishing last in both 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons.Murray dealt defenseman Tyler Myers, forward Drew Stafford, two prospects and a first-round pick in acquiring Kane, defenseman Zach Bogosian and prospect goalie Jason Kasdorf. And it made no difference to Murray that Kane would miss the final two months of the season after having shoulder surgery.Though Kane has produced on the ice when healthy and been active in working with Buffalo-area charitable groups, he has been questioned for his immaturity off the ice.Kane has had two legal run-ins, including being arrested for grabbing three women by the hair and neck during an altercation at a Buffalo bar in June 2016. The charges were eventually dismissed on condition Kane stayed out of trouble as part of a plea agreement in which a prosecutor described the player’s behavior as ”arrogant, boorish and surly, but not criminal.”Earlier in the year, the Sabres suspended Kane for one game for missing practice a day after pictures surfaced on social media of the player celebrating in Toronto after attending the NBA All-Star Game.Kane has been inconsistent this season. After scoring 15 goals and 18 assists in his first 35 games, he has just four goals and two assists in his past 25.NOTES: Center Jack Eichel was spotted carrying a stick and walking without a protective boot for the first time since spraining his right ankle in a 4-2 win at Boston on Feb. 10. Housley had no update on Eichel’s status. … G Robin Lehner will start against Detroit after missing one game with a hip injury.— OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) The Carolina Hurricanes keep trying to do their part to preserve their slim playoff hopes.Phillip Di Giusseppe and Jordan Staal each had a goal and assist to lead the Hurricanes to a 5-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.Brock McGinn Custom New York Islanders Jerseys , Noah Hanifin and Jeff Skinner also scored, and Cam Ward stopped 34 shots as Carolina remained nine points behind New Jersey, which also won, for the last wild card in the Eastern Conference with seven games remaining.”Our team’s got a lot of pride. I really believe in our guys and they want to do it right each and every night and not let each other down, so you’ve got to go out and play hard,” Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said.Bobby Ryan and Thomas Chabot scored for the Senators, and Mike Condon finished with 19 saves.Ottawa captain Erik Karlsson made an emotional return to the ice, playing for the first time since he and his wife announced Tuesday that their son Axel had been stillborn. A visibly moved Karlsson waved as he received a huge ovation from the home crowd when announced as part of the Senators’ starting lineup.”It’s great. You’ve seen it with the fans that everyone was happy to see him. Same with us when we saw him (Saturday) morning we were all happy,” Chabot said. ”He’s a big part of our team as you know and the best player on our team so it’s good to have him back. We would have rather had a better game than that for his comeback but it’s just great to have him in the locker room and happy to just have him around.”Karlsson made a surprise return for the morning skate and his presence meant a lot to his teammates. ”Huge,” was how forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau described Karlsson’s return.”He’s our captain, he’s our best player, he’s our leader and you want to be on the ice when he’s on www.senatorsshoponline.com ,” Pageau said. ”He’s been there for all of us and we want to be there for him right now. We’re all happy that he was back today.”Karlsson almost scored when his slap shot went off the post just under four minutes into the game.McGinn gave the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead with a great tip in the slot off Klas Dahlbeck’s point shot to beat Condon through the legs with 2:41 left in the second period. The goal withstood a challenge for offside by the Senators.Hanifin and Skinner scored 68 seconds apart to push the lead to 4-1 about midway into the third. Hanifin was left alone at the side of the goal and beat Condon with a wrist shot at 8:29. Skinner then fought off Mike Hoffman as he moved in and beat Condon with a backhand at 9:37.Chabot scored with 3:26 left to cut the lead to 4-2, before Staal scored into an empty net in the final minute.”Through the first two periods we didn’t get the bounces on our side. I thought we had chances and put a lot of pucks on net and then obviously in the third they came out and took the lead and it was too far to come back,” Pageau said.Each team scored in the first period with the Hurricanes grabbing a 1-0 lead at 7:34 when Di Giuseppe beat Condon from a sharp angle.Ryan tied it at 9:38 as he stood at the top of the crease and tipped Ryan Dzingel’s shot past Ward, who turned aside 11 shots in the period, including two breakaways.After a turnover, Dzingel had a breakaway but was short on space and time as he only caught up to the puck about 20 feet in front of Ward. Minutes later, Pageau had all kinds of time as he was all alone from the blue line in but Ward made a pad save.NOTES: Marian Gaborik was a scratch for the Senators. … Brett Pesce, Justin Faulk and Victor Rask were scratches for the Hurricanes. … The Hurricanes improved their road record to 16-16-5. … Ottawa’s Tom Pyatt played in his 400th career game, including his 155th with the Senators. … Ryan’s first-period goal was his first in 12 games.UP NEXTHurricanes; Host Ottawa on Monday night.Senators: At Carolina on Monday night.