Everything is going wrong for the Sabres.
A day after watching franchise cornerstone Jack Eichel hobble off the practice ice with a bum ankle, top scoring winger Evander Kane appeared to suffer a serious injury to his left side during the team's season opener Thursday night against the Canadiens.
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With 11.3 seconds to play in the second period, Kane got tangled with Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin while competing for the puck and lost his edge. Kane fell to the ice and crashed into the end boards at full speed, where he lay on the ice writing in obvious pain.
Kane is in a lot of pain after the contact with Emelin pic.twitter.com/T5qlTO0eT8
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) October 14, 2016
He was then guided off the ice by teammates, clutching his left shoulder or elbow.
The Sabres did not immediately provide an update on Kane, who did not return to the ice for the third period. Buffalo lost 4-1
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Kane, who did not return for the third period, was transported to a nearby hospital "for further evaluation and precautionary measures," the Sabres announced.
Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said after the game doctors were "checking for a lot of things ... internally."
Kane, 25, was one of the players the Sabres were counting on to produce on offense while Eichel recovers from a high ankle sprain. A former 30-goal scorer, he was coming off a down season — his first in Buffalo — following a trade deadline deal from the Jets in the 2014-15 season. Shortly after the trade, Kane underwent surgery on his left shoulder that required a recovery period of four to six months.
Buffalo was already playing without two major offseason additions in winger Kyle Okposo and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who missed the opener with injuries. It lost the game 4-1.
"There's a little bit of shake your head and snakebitten a bit," Bylsma said of the team's misfortune. "It's come in droves."
Eichel, the 2015 No. 2 overall pick, was injured in practice Wednesday when he tripped over a teammate during drills. He's expected to miss at least four to six weeks.
Until then, the Sabres, who entered the season hoping to snap their five-year playoff drought, can ill afford an extended absence for Kane.
