from Ryan Dixon of Sportsnet,

- Detroit’s win in Chicago was its second of the weekend after a 6-1 shellacking of the St. Louis Blues 24 hours prior. Combine that with Tampa Bay ending a miserable three-game skid with a victory on Long Island on Saturday followed by another in New Jersey on Sunday and, suddenly, the Eastern Conference wild-card picture is beginning to crystalize. On the flip side, the “Fi-re Lin-dy!” chants are back at the Prudential Center thanks to the Devils’ 4-1 loss to the Bolts. With Tampa and Detroit looking pretty solid in the wild-card slots (though the Lightning have played the most games in the East) it’s starting to feel like Jersey’s only chance to salvage this season is to catch Philly for third in the Metro. And even the Flyers might have felt out of reach had Sidney Crosby not put together an incredible four-point performance on Sunday in a wild 7-6 win over his Pennsylvania rivals in Pittsburgh.

- The Rangers’ 10-game winning streak ended on Sunday at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Leafs have posted seven straight W’s after their win in Denver on Saturday, but that team gets a lot of attention even without Tyler Bertuzzi scoring a birthday hat trick. Less noisy, but nearly as impressive, is the five-game streak the Nashville Predators have put together, with all five victories coming on the road after triumphs Saturday in San Jose and Sunday in Anaheim. Nashville suddenly has one hand — or at least a few fingers — on the final Western Conference playoff berth and you have to wonder if that changes the calculous when it comes to potentially dealing Juuse Saros. The Preds are pretty openly future-focused right now, but thinking big picture is a tick harder when you’re actually in a post-season spot as opposed to floating around the fringes.

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