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BUFFALO Andrei Vasilevskiy Jersey , 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, 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 http://www.officiallightningprostore.com/authentic-adidas-anton-stralman-jersey , 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.— LAS VEGAS (AP) The Arizona Coyotes don’t have much to play for, given they have the worst record in the Western Conference and have long been eliminated from the playoff race.Except maybe a bit of pride.It showed Wednesday night as Kevin Connauton scored twice to lead the Coyotes over the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights 3-2.It marked Arizona’s first victory over the expansion Golden Knights in the teams’ fifth and final game this season.”It was a good complete game for us,” Connauton said. ”It’s big, I mean right now we’re focused on building for next year. We still have a group here that has a lot of pride and that is gonna play hard right to the end.”Richard Panik also scored for the Coyotes, and Antti Raanta improved to 18-16-6 by making 27 saves.”We knew that we had lost all the games against this team and we wanted to show that we’re not that bad a team,” Raanta said. ”Everybody knows that we’re not gonna go to the playoffs Womens Brayden Point Jersey , but we want to show that we can beat anybody in this league. A little bit of a better start (this season) we could actually be in the hunt for a playoff spot.”The Coyotes began the season 0-10-1 and were 9-27-5 heading into 2018, but now they’re on a 15-7-2 roll, including an impressive 4-1 victory at Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay on Monday night.”It was a huge thing to come from Tampa and start working again, it was a big thing for the team for sure,” Raanta said. ”It’s showing to the fans and showing to the league that we can beat anybody in this league when we are playing like we played today and in Tampa. It’s a confidence boost for sure.”Erik Haula and Alex Tuch each scored power-play goals for the playoff-bound Golden Knights. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 shots.Vegas is in a 7-6-3 rut and holds a five-point lead over surging San Jose for first place in the Pacific Division. The Sharks were idle Wednesday and visit Vegas on Saturday night. The Golden Knights are 27-10-2 at home this season.The Golden Knights continued to struggle at the start of games, getting outshot by Arizona in the first period 15-5.Vegas has been outshot 41-22 in the first period over its past three games.”It’s bothering me a lot,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said of his team’s sluggish starts. ”First game of our road trip in San Jose we had an unbelievable first period and the last three since then it’s been chasing the game every game. That’s three in a row and we gotta fix it. We gotta be better, we gotta be more prepared for those starts and get our game ready.”The Coyotes opened the scoring when Connauton found the loose puck after a deflection in front of the crease and backhanded it in a wide-open net.Vegas tied it after James Neal took advantage of a turnover and fed Haula for a one-timer.With a little more than three minutes left in the first period, Arizona rookie Clayton Keller stole the puck, maneuvered around the defense and served an attacking Panik, whose backhand beat Fleury.Keller, who leads the team in scoring, continued a red-hot March and has now recorded a point in 10 straight games. Keller’s 18 points this month is the most by a rookie, while his 39 assists and 62 points this season are also team records by a rookie.Tuch deflected Jonathan Marchessault’s slap shot late in the second period to knot the game at 2 Braydon Coburn Jersey , but moments later Connauton scored his second goal when his shot from the point made its way through the five-hole.”It was big because obviously this is a great hockey team we’re playing. This is a tough building to play in, a loud building,” Arizona coach Rick Tocchet said. ”We held our own, you gotta give our team credit. It’s a tough road trip. I like the way some of these guys are buying in. You do the right things, good things happen.”Arizona, which is 6-3-1 in its last 10 road games, played its fifth game of a six-game road trip that started in Buffalo, and continued through Carolina, Florida, Tampa and Vegas. The Coyotes finish their road trip tomorrow in Los Angeles.NOTES: Arizona is on a winning run of 16-1-1 when holding opponents to two goals or fewer. … Fleury remains one win away from moving into sole possession of 11th on the NHL’s career wins list. … Neal is two games shy from his 700th career game. … Marchessault is two games away from his 200th career contest.UP NEXTArizona: Visits Los Angeles on Thursday night.Vegas: Hosts St. Louis on Friday night.—