Three Stars:

1. Andrew Shaw

2. Corey Crawford

3. Bryan Bickell

A few things to consider before the general panic.

1. Marian Hossa is currently injured. This affects not only the depth of the team but also the chemistry of the first line. Toews and Shaw should not play together.

2. Marcus Kruger is currently injured. He’s our shutdown center, and our fourth line is simply not as good without him. Not to say Philip Danault is doing a bad job, but I would prefer him with Rasmussen and Shaw if Q refuses to call up Dano.

3. That was our 8th game in 13 days. We’re tired, and Q was playing 11 forwards most of the game. His obsession with Mashinter needs to end, so that we can get anyone with talent into the lineup. Whether that’s Dano or Kero or really anyone in Rockford it doesn’t matter, but Mashinter needs to be out of this lineup.

Patrick Kane was nowhere to be found last night. Artemi was in the box. Artem keeps losing faceoffs. If we’re going to win games we need the second line, and we didn’t. That’s not to say we won’t. Expect them to get some rest and get back to their usual second line beast mode.

Hopefully Hossa is back after the break. Not to say we will need him versus Carolina, who has a ton of issues, not least is below expected goal play, but it would be nice to have the actual first line with Hossa Toews and Teuvo. The Shaw and Teuvo experiment isn’t working. I’m able to admit when I’m wrong.

Seriously, the weakest link on this team is currently Brandon Mashinter. We need to rid ourselves of dead weight and it starts there. His only production came at a moment it mattered least. I still don’t understand Q’s hatred of developing talent. Dano would fit better with the skill and speed of the team, but I need to stop harping on it.

Expect better perfomance on the other side of the break.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.