BLOG: Kane conveying post-season experience and expertise

EDMONTON, AB - An incredible week for the Kane family couldn't have gone much better.
The Edmonton Oilers are through to the Western Conference Final, where they'll face the Colorado Avalanche thanks in large part to Evander Kane's playoff-leading 12 goals in 12 games in these Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Off the ice, he welcomed his son Iverson Frank Kane to the world the day after his pair of goals alongside two from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in a 5-3 Game 4 victory at Rogers Place helped push the Calgary Flames to the brink of elimination.
His son's name pays homage to one of the best to ever lace them up on the court, and with Kane being someone who operates with plenty of swagger both as a player and a person, picking more of a more common first name for his youngest child just didn't seem to be an option.
"Allen Iverson is one of the greatest basketball players of all time, and I find boys' names really tough to come up with," he said. "You want something a little bit different, a little bit unique and not super generic, so my girlfriend and I thought 'Iverson' was it and we were happy with that."
The 30-year-old didn't join the team on the flight to Calgary this past Wednesday, but he was back through the doors of the Oilers dressing room at Scotiabank Saddledome in time on Thursday to play 24:43 of Edmonton's 5-4 series-sealing victory in overtime.
"It's been awesome. It's been a big week for my family having my son, but it's obviously been great with the team success we've had to couple those two things," he said. "It's been a really enjoyable last couple of weeks and we just want to make sure we do everything in our power to keep this thing going."

Kane's on-ice skillset is nothing close to generic. His ability to blend an aggressive play style and score plenty of goals as a complementary winger to two of the game's best in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl goes hand-in-hand as one of the few players on the Oilers roster who's made it this far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
All of those factors make Kane a reliable player and a valuable voice in the locker room for Head Coach Jay Woodcroft as they get set to begin the Western Conference Final against the Avalanche on Tuesday night in the Mile High City.
"He's one of the players that when we go through our roster and look at who had the experience of playing this deep in the playoffs, Evander is one of them," Woodcroft said. "He has a really good career and he's had one opportunity. He understands that this is a special team that we have and a special opportunity. I think him lending his experience to the rest of the group is invaluable.
"In terms of him and his evolution, he's just someone who keeps getting better and is not just defined by his scoring statistics, he does a lot of good things for us on the ice and is an important member of our team."

There is also the understated and undervalued area of gamesmanship where Kane is happy to contribute.
Not only is Kane a big playoff veteran for this Oilers team, but also an important messenger on the team when it comes to making his presence known through his on-ice play or verbally to the opponent, whether it's in a post-whistle scrum, the penalty box, in passing during a shift, or in his media interviews.
Having the ability to send your team's message on the ice in different ways is a tell-tale sign of a strong hockey team that's exemplified by Kane in the two-time Stanley Cup Champions and how the Oilers played out their Battle of Alberta series in the second round.
"I think you look at teams that have had success. You look at Tampa, they do a lot of message-sending in different ways," he said. "They're viewed as a skill team, but they have a lot of different types of players and usually successful teams have a nice mix of different skillsets.
"When you go up against top guys and you play a lot of minutes, you want to leave an impression each and every game. I think we did a good job of that in Calgary knowing the type of team they were, and I think that can have an effect on the opposition."
Kane went deep into the Western Conference Final with the San Jose Sharks back during '18-19 season, defeating the Avalanche in Game 7 of the second round before falling in six games to the eventual champion St. Louis Blues.

One of the more understated elements that factor into playoff success or failure that's been seen by Kane is the amount of time that teams have to recuperate in between series.
"The one thing I learned going to the Conference Final a few years ago is you have to have some luck," he said. "It's hard to stay healthy. "We went seven games the first round, seven games the second round, with the first one being a bit of a war. Go back three years ago, I think we had five of our top-six forwards missing in Game 6 of the Conference Final. It's tough to win when you have that many guys out."
In Edmonton's case, early advancement from the second round will play a big factor in the team's longevity against a tough opponent in the Avalanche as the league narrows down to its final two teams in the West.
"I think health is so important at this time of the year and to get some rest I think really is going to help our group," Kane said. "We're collectively healthy for the most part, and I think that can bode well."