BUFFALO, N.Y. -- First, Patrick Kane gave his family and friends something to cheer about by scoring a highlight-reel goal in a rare trip home to Buffalo on Sunday night. Then, Kane stuck around an hour after the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1 victory over the Sabres, by posing for pictures and signing autographs in the stands. As homecomings go, Kanes was nearly complete except that his beloved grandfather Donald Kane was not around to see it after passing away last month. "No matter what, youre going to miss him," Kane said, following only his fourth NHL game at Buffalo. "But life goes on, and I think more importantly, I have a lot of family here at the game that came and supported me." Coach Joel Quenneville saw a jump during a performance in which Kane snapped a five-game goal drought that began after his grandfathers death. "I thought Kane was special," Quenneville said. "He was a threat and had the puck on his stick tonight: very dangerous and nice to see him play well here at home." Kane opened the scoring 3:12 in, by capping a breath-taking rush. Bursting past defenceman Christian Ehrhoff, Kane snapped a shot through the legs of defenceman Chad Ruhwedel that beat goalie Jhonas Enroth over the left shoulder. Kane nearly made it 2-1 with 8 minutes left in the second period, when he got in alone behind the Sabres defence only to have his backhander stopped by Enroth. He also scored into an empty net, but a second after the final horn sounded. Captain Jonathan Toews secured the win by scoring the go-ahead goal 1:34 into the third period. Corey Crawford stopped 20 shots, and the Blackhawks (38-13-14) snapped a two-game road skid. Drew Stafford scored for the league-worst Sabres (19-37-8), who had a three-game home winning streak snapped. Stafford capped a nifty three-way passing play to tie the game midway through the first period. Tyler Ennis started it by finding trailing forward Cory Conacher driving up the left wing. Conacher drew Crawford from out of the net and slipped a pass into the crease where Stafford jammed it in after his first chance was blocked by Brent Seabrook. The assist for Ennis made up for a goal he had disallowed a few minutes earlier, when he was called for hooking Crawford. "I didnt think it was a penalty, and frustrated that I had the goal taken away," Ennis said. "But I dont think that was the turning point." The difference was the Sabres ongoing difficulties on offence, which has managed a league-low 122 goals. Buffalos power play went 0-for-5 on Sunday, and is 0-for-10 over its past four games. "What do we take out of that one?" Ennis said. "One: Jhonys playing great. Two: Weve got to stay out of the box. And, three: Our power plays got to be better." Enroth stopped 29 shots and had little chance on either of the two goals he gave up. With the game tied at 1 and the Sabres mounting a threat in Chicagos end to open the third period, Toews answered by capping a 3-on-2 rush the other way. Andrew Shaw crossed Buffalos blue line and found Brandon Saad breaking up the right wing. Saad drew Enroth his way before steering a pass through the crease to Toews, who then snapped it in the open side. It was Toews 25th goal of the season and sixth in four games. Toews has shown little sign of a post-Olympic hangover after he helped Canada win a gold medal at Sochi. "I think hes returned from the Olympics in great shape, very confident," Quenneville said. "He just seems to have the knack, has good pace with it, has the puck a lot as well. And when hes around the net, hes getting rewarded." The Blackhawks extended their win streak to five games against the Sabres. And with 90 points, they jumped into third place in the Western Conference standings, a point ahead of idle San Jose. NOTES: Kane was the last Chicago player off the ice following pregame warmups and got a big cheer after flipping a puck into a large crowd of Blackhawks jersey-wearing fans behind the teams bench. ... Sabres C Conacher made his debut with Buffalo since being claimed Wednesday, a day after being waived by Ottawa. Conacher played college at Buffalos Canisius and is from nearby Burlington, Ontario. ... The Sabres suspended D Rostislav Klesla for failing to report to the teams AHL affiliate in Rochester. Acquired in a trade with Washington on Wednesday, Klesla told Canadian broadcaster TSN that he intended to not finish the NHL season, and instead planned to continue his career in Europe. Wojciech Szczesny Juventus Jersey .The Canadian teenage golf sensation announced Thursday shell join the LPGA Tour in 2015 instead of attending the University of Florida. Mattia Perin Juventus Jersey . Sweeting scored two in the first and three in the second before Strong (4-4) got two back in the fourth. Sweeting then scored three in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the seventh to grab a commanding 9-2 lead. http://www.juventusfcpro.com/Kids-Alex-Sandro-Jersey/ . Al Harrington, another former Knicks forward, scored 22 of his 24 points after halftime for the Nuggets, allowing them to withstand Anthonys attempt to rally the Knicks after his poor shooting had them behind until the final minutes of regulation. Anthony finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds, missing 20 of 30 shots in the Knicks sixth straight loss. Andrea Barzagli Juventus Jersey . Numbers Game looks at the As getting Jon Lester from Boston, sending Yoenis Cespedes to the Red Sox along with a deal involving the As and the Minnesota Twins. The Athletics Get: LHP Jon Lester, LF Jonny Gomes, OF Sam Fuld and cash. Paulo Dybala Jersey . - The Seattle Seahawks have signed nine players to 2014 future contracts, including quarterback B.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca. Hi Kerry, In the Boston-Buffalo game on Wednesday night in the second period, Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers slashes Bruins forward Brad Marchand and then punches him in the head! How and why does Marchand get the penalty, with no call on Myers? He then scores a go-ahead goal! My question would be - does a supervising official between periods give the refs the talking down a player would get from his coach? This call could cost a team two points on very questionable officiating! Thanks,Ken MacAskill Ken: Both you and broadcast analyst Joe Micheletti made the correct call on this play. At the very least the Bruins and Sabres should have been playing four men aside as a result of the altercation between Tyler Myers and Brad Marchand. In a perfect world, Myers deserved an extra minor penalty as the aggressor in this incident following his slash and punch at Marchand. You asked how and why, only Brad Marchand received the penalty on this play. The trailing referee is responsible for all players behind the Sabres blue line. As the Sabres went on the attack from their end zone, Marchand cut across the ice toward his bench for a line change and in doing so skated directly in front of Myers. The altercation began when Marchand dropped his hip toward Myers who responded with a cross-check shove, a slash by each player and then the Myers punch. At this point play was stopped to assess a penalty. The camera picked up the trailing referee with his arm raised and approaching the two players on an angle back from the neutral zone toward Tyler Myers and Brad Marchand. From the referees angle of return it is apparent to me that he had vacated the Sabres end zone prior to players clearing that zone and failed to recognize and observe the hot spot between Marchand and Myers. I dont believe the ref saw the start of the altercation but picked it up when Brad Marchand jammed his stick into Myers midsection. He therefore deemed Marchand to be the instigator of the scrum. The easy call should have been to penalize both players for their actions. Unfortunately that didnt take place and resulted in a Tyler Myers power-play goal. Officiating managers (supervisors) very seldom enter the officials room between periods unless something extremely serious has gone afoul. Instead, the manager will review his observations and game report with the officiaals at the conclusion of the game.dddddddddddd In certain cases, depending upon travel schedules or a perceived need, a follow-up telephone call or even breakfast meeting might take place with an official. Typically though any instruction/coaching will take place in the officials dressing room after the game. There was a time when supervisors entered the room between periods but team management objected to this practice when they felt the officials approach to the game changed to drastically following between period instructions. I dont agree with this practice in principle, but whenever the conversation does take place the supervisors proper approach and coaching techniques are vital in advancing the officials learning curve. When I observe a Division I College game for my former colleague and referee-in-chief of the ECAC Paul Stewart, I always visit the officials room between periods; if for no other reason but to be supportive and available should they have any questions. My approach is always to be positive and point out the good things they did but also to make them aware of any potential hot spots that might develop in addition to any positioning issues I feel the need to address. The game can certainly look different from the press box or the television monitor than it does at ice level. In a flash from the past, when I first signed a contract with the NHL there was a different and much more aggressive approach taken by the supervisors of that day which could be very intimidating for an official; especially a young one. Team general managers were not fined for approaching the officials room and shouting matches often took place in the hall outside the refs room. Supervisors were subjected to angry rants from team personnel in the press box which could result in a between period visit to the officials room by a supervisor. I can tell you there were trash cans kicked around the officials room and rolled up programs thrown at the wall in some of these "coaching" sessions. As you can imagine they werent very productive from a teaching perspective but could have a profound effect on how the next period was officiated! In todays fast paced game the two referee two linesman system is mandatory. An influx of younger officials has been hired to the staff when the veterans retire. Enhanced coaching and mentoring techniques are required to quicken the learning curve that takes place in addition to holding all the officials accountable to the expected standard. This is a work in progress. ' ' '