Got hockey problems?  Goaltender lost confidence?  Lost a couple of tough games in a row?  Playing without a top forward and defenseman?  Well, the NHL has the cure for that: the Nashville Predators.

I actually listened to the first two periods of this game on the radio while driving back from Bloomington-Normal.  I gotta say, John Weideman and Troy Murray do a terrific job.  Weideman calls a good game and doesn't inject too much agenda into it, and Murray actually analyzes the game and even criticizes the Hawks players at times.  I'd love to see him get the TV gig at some point in the future (tomorrow works).  And, man, Nashville is still terrible.  I've got to figure out a way to pass off the rest of the Preds games to Fork for recap duty.

THE GOOD

Cristobal Huet:  Cris got this first shutout of the season, and yeah it was against the Predators, but he still had to make some tough saves, as the defense was having turnover issues, hopefully due to the pairings being shuffled a bit with Brent Seabrook sitting out.  Anyway, glad to see Huet have a good game in front of his home crowd, and it was nice that they didn't boo him when he received the first star of the game.

Garbage Goals:  The Hawks muddled through the first period, but finally decided they'd had enough in the second.  That's when the got control of the puck, worked it around the zone and scored two goals within a minute of each other.  Both goals came when guys who were setting screens in front of Dan Ellis were able to corral rebounds and tap them in.  The goals don't have to be pretty, they just have to go in.

THE BAD

Nashville:  Yuck.  Listening to this team on the radio is no better than watching them.  Evidentally, the Predators offensive philosphy is to clear their own zone, dump the puck in, change lines, fall back to the neutral zone and hope that the opposing team all suffer from simultaneous heart attacks.  THEN they make their move.

Dustin Byfuglien's Penalties:  Buff had a goal in the game, but he also negated two Hawk power plays by taking penalties less than a minute into them.  Chicago has had enough issues on the power play this year without having shit like this happen.

THE UGLY

Brent Sopel's shot:  Sopel's shot may be the most exciting play in hockey.  Why?  Because nobody, not even Sopel, knows where the hell the puck is going to go when it comes off his stick.  Jeebus, Brent, I know you were playing on the first pair tonight, but maybe you should just pass the puck to Duncan Keith instead of trying to be Al MacGinnis.