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Buffalo Sabres power forward Evander Kane met with media Saturday morning and issued a statement.
"As I said before, I did nothing wrong, and I’m glad the truth came out and prevailed."
I’m definitely happy that the process is behind me. I’m very grateful with the support I got from the Buffalo Sabres and my teammates and family members as well. I’m thankful that this is behind me and I’m looking to move forward."
It was definitely difficult. Obviously, you don’t want to be associated with anything like that and as I said before, I did nothing wrong and I’m glad the truth came out and prevailed.…
On Friday, Kane was cleared of any wrongdoing after a lengthy investigation into an encounter that occurred in Buffalo in late December.
No accusation was ever made against Kane, but the Erie County DA's office told media on Friday that an investigation was initiated after a young woman who spent the night with Kane sought medical treatment at a local hospital and said she could not remember what happened.
The Erie County District Attorney’s Office and the Buffalo Police determined that nothing illegal occurred.
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Irish Eyes Smilin On O'Reilly https://t.co/p2pacgu6sa pic.twitter.com/HtuvbxYa4X
— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) March 12, 2016
Irish eyes were smiling on Buffalo on Friday.
Three weeks from the very day that he first injured his right foot, Sabres All Star center Ryan O'Reilly skated for the first time.
Talk about a pot o'gold adjacent to the Lucky Charms factory in downtown Buffalo.
By all accounts, O'Reilly made it through his first skate with flying colors.
The Sabres have struggled to find their consistency while ROR has been sidelined with a walking boot on his right foot. Today's matinee with Carolina marks the eleventh game that O'Reilly has missed due to the injury.
The Sabres are 3-5-2 in they lost their future captain in Columbus on February 19. “Just kind of turned my foot to take the puck,… ROR said Friday. “I felt it hit weird. I thought it was a stinger until after the game, then they looked at it.…
Thanks, Sabres.com
The Sabres medical staff gave O'Reilly a 3-4 week prognosis to return to action.
He now enters week number four on his ROR'd to recovery.
To this point in his NHL career, The Factor has been a durable, reliable, and very productive player. He has spent very little time in the trainer's room over his six year NHL career.
He missed a career high 8 games in the 2010-11 season due to injury. That's it.
At age 25, he now has an eleven game and counting injury bug to deal with.
No worries. This too shall pass.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been hurt this long in my career,… O’Reilly said. “It’s different. It’s definitely different coming back this late in the season.…
“It feels like a lot longer than it has been,… O’Reilly said. “Once you get out there, it’s awkward coming back. It was a good workout today.…
Sabtes head coach Dan Bylsma has said that he likes the progress that O'Reilly is making both on and off the ice. We'll keep an eye on this upcoming week to see if O'Reilly makes his way back into the Buffalo line. They host Montreal on Wednesday night.
Cross your fingers Sabres fans, you may be getting Ryan O'Reilly back just in time for St. Patty's Day.
O’Reilly leads all NHL forwards in average ice time with 21:51 TOI per game.
Evander Kane ranks second at 21:12 per game.
The pair currently own the two highest average career ice times by Sabres forwards. Michael Peca (20:18) is the only other forward with an average over 20 minutes.
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With his goal on Monday night at Toronto, Jack "The Ripper" Eichel (19 years, 131 days) became the youngest 20-goal scorer in Sabres history, besting Pierre Turgeon (19 years, 140 days on Jan. 15, 1989) by nine days.
Eichel now leads the Sabres with 20 goals this season.
If he finishes the season with the team lead, he will be the first Sabres rookie to lead the team in goals since Ray Sheppard did so in the 1987-88 season.
Eichel is ranked in the top five among NHL rookies in goals (T-2nd, 20), assists (T-2nd, 26), points (2nd, 46) and shots (1st, 208).
With 46 points (20G, 26A) in 69 games, Eichel is on pace for 55 points this season. If he reaches the 50-point mark, he will become the ninth Sabres rookie to record more than 50 points in a season. He would be the first since Derek Plante (1993-94) and the second-youngest to do so, trailing only Phil Housley (1982-83).
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Eichel (20G, 26A) and Sam Reinhart (19G, 14A) are the first pair of Sabres rookies to reach the 30-point mark since Thomas Vanek (48) and Jason Pominville (30) did so in 2005-06. The Sabres haven’t had two or more rookies reach 35 points in the same season since Ray Sheppard (65), Pierre Turgeon (42) and Calle Johansson (42) each did so in 1987-88.
Reinhart scores one more goal this season, he and Eichel will become the third pair of rookies in Sabres history to each record 20 goals in the same season, joining Danny Gare (31) and Peter McNab (22) in 1974-75 and Gilbert Perreault (38) and Steve Atkinson (20) in 1970-71.
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Eichel’s average TOI of 19:04 is the highest ever recorded by a Sabres rookie forward, topping the next highest (Cody Hodgson- 20 GP, 17:16) by more than a minute.
Reinhart (16:46 this season) is the only other Sabres rookie forward to top 16 minutes per game.
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PS- I love Reinhart and Kane to score their 20th goals of the season against Carolina today.