Three Stars:

1. Corey “Crow” Crawford

2. Andrew “the Mutt” Shaw

3. Patrick “Showtime” Kane

Kane’s streak: extended (23)

We’re back. Three lines are productive. It’s an amazing thing to have a talented player like Shaw on the third line. Makes everyone around him better. There’s a reason the shutdown fourth is not as good this year. There’s also a reason Bryan Bickell isn’t at a -2 right now. Shaw-Rasmussen-Bickell can do some damage (literally, Bickell’s hit on Byfuglien.. damn) but Shaw-Rasmussen-Dano could be the best third line in the league. Dano needs to be on this team.

Kane’s streak has recently only been extended by Empty Netters. It counts but dude’s gotta start playing better if he’s going to beat Crosby.

Toews has been awakened. Chemistry is an important thing. I was right about that. Hossa and him play much better together than they do separate in the regular season. Teuvo brings the youthful spring to that line as well. Taco Tuesday’s been excellent since coming back from injury. Let’s hope that’s a common theme this year and when Daley’s back he’s the Daley we had the last seven+ games.

Crawford won that game. But also Nashville’s offense is currently losing games. There’s only so much a defense can do. That was proven last night. Shea Weber hasn’t been the same player after being hurt by the Hawks in the playoffs. He’s allowing Roman Josi to be the best defender on the team. Time for Nashville’s captain to step up.

There’s no more Mashinter on this team. Bickell’s back, but really I’ll take anything over Mashinter at this point. Playoffs will be a different monster. Expect Dano to come in to the lineup consistently in February and to play well enough to stay in the lineup into June.

Ponderings:

Am I the only one who was high on Daley the games before he got hurt? Dude looked solid, if not like somebody we could rely on for some minutes in the playoffs. If he does get traded, expect those games (and hopefully that’s continued when he comes back) to translate into a better return.

Rundblad didn’t do something wrong that game. Cries of shock and intrigue were heard from the whole city.

Guess what? Now Panarin’s got a point streak going too. Even after losing Tikhonov to the beast that is the Bickell contract. Anisimov continues to be the luckiest center in the NHL. If the wings are switched in the playoffs, neither Toews nor Anisimov is like to complain.

I’m gonna end with some hashtags that I like.

#Panarin4Calder

#Kane4ASGCaptain

#23

#MustardCats