Chicago Blackhawks’ Kane Named November’s First Star

If you’ve been watching Chicago Blackhawks games of late, you could probably see this latest news coming from a mile away. The NHL made it official Tuesday, naming Patrick Kane the first of the league’s three stars for the month of November.

It marks the most-recent first-star honor for a Blackhawks player, with Kane being the last one to achieve the goal for the month of December 2013. He also earned the monthly first star in November 2013, and was the last Blackhawks’ monthly NHL award winner with the second star in December 2014.

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Kane, most notably, broke the record for most consecutive games with a point by an American-born player last week, notching his 19th straight contest with at least one point when he got two against Los Angeles on Saturday. Twenty-three of his NHL-leading 37 points and 15 of his NHL-leading 23 assists came in the month of November, which saw the Blackhawks play 13 games. Kane’s success on the offensive end led the Blackhawks to a 7-3-3 month — and when I say led, I mean he alone was the key force behind a few of those wins.

Kane’s 19-game point streak is the longest in the league since Sidney Crosby‘s 25-gamer during the 2010-11 season. But Kane has a long way to go to even consider touching the league’s longest run by any player — the great Wayne Gretzky holds that mark at an astonishing 51 games.

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Also during November, Kane had a seven-game goal streak, the longest by an NHLer since the 2013-14 season. He also had eight multi-point showings in the year’s 11th month, chief among them a four-point night against Edmonton on Nov. 8.

Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby was November’s second start, while Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene earned the third star for November.

The start Kane has had to the 2015-16 season couldn’t have been imagined just a few months ago. A good part of Kane’s summer was spent embroiled in a rape investigation that has since concluded with no charges filed. It would be easy to see if Kane wasn’t totally focused on his on-ice play when the regular season started.

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But he’s pretty much been lights-out on the second line, meshing well with new teammates Artemi Panarin and Artem Anisimov despite the former knowing very little English. The three are among the Blackhawks’ top four in points through 24 games while much of the rest of the team is struggling to dent the twine. I think we all knew Kane was capable of having a month, and start to the season, like this, but to do so after what occurred in the offseason is especially surprising. Certainly, the Blackhawks will take it in the ultra-competitive Central Division while trying to defend their third Stanley Cup in the last six seasons.