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Nashville Predators: For much of the regular season, the Preds have been the class of the Western Conference, but their lead is swiftly slipping as they stumble into the final month of the season. Nashville dropped its sixth straight Saturday night with a 3-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. With their fourth consecutive loss at Bridgestone Arena, the Preds have seen what was once a comfortable cushion looks much more tenuous, especially with the Blues having those two games in hand.

The Chicago Blackhawks’ offense: As colleague Scott Powers pointed out earlier Monday, the Hawks are really hurting without Patrick Kane. The offensive woes seem to magnified in their star forward’s absence as Brad Richards, Patrick Sharp and Andrew Shaw are all slumping at the same time. Bryan Bickell was scratched Sunday night against the New York Rangers as a result of his sub-par play. The Hawks have still managed to nab five of six points over their past three games, but if they can’t turn things around offensively soon, things might start trending in the other direction.

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