Merry Christmas, Hockeenight readers.  The Hawks sent us into the Christmas break with an early gift, a 3-0 shutout of Detroit, their second shutout of the Red Wings this week.  Due to running around getting ready for Christmas stuff, I caught most of the game on the radio (and the rest on TV), so my observations are going to be heavily based on those of John Wiedeman and Troy Murray.

THE GOOD

Antti Niemi:  ANOTHER shutout for Niemi.  I didn't need to see anything to know that 0 goals on 33 shots meant that Niemi had himself a pretty good game.

Marian Hossa:  This was Hossa's return to Detroit, and it sounded like he was pumped for this game.  He assisted on Patrick Sharp's third period goal but seemed to be everywhere on the rink, generating chances and hitting the crossbar on a breakaway.  I don't think we're going to be hearing Hawks fans questioning Hossa's contract anytime soon.

Balanced Scoring:  The Hawks don't have a player among the top 30 in goals scored this year, but they've got excellent balance, with 5 forwards already reaching double digits (and Marian Hossa won't be far behind).  While you'd love to have a guy step up and carry the load (Hossa will likely do that, and Jonathan Toews is starting to look like he might too), its definitely big that the Hawks don't have to depend on any one guy.  This is a team that can run out 3 lines every night that are capable of denting the twine.

THE BAD

The Weather:  Holy shit, it's a winter armaggedon here in Chicago with a huge ice storm rolling through.

Let's see, another shutout, 1 for 3 on the power play, killed off all 6 penalties...man, I can't find anything bad here.  Hell, for all I know, even Tomas Kopecky was adequate tonight.

THE UGLY

The Red Wings injured list:  Man, that thing just keeps getting longer, as Brian Rafalski sat out tonight's game with the flu.

Next up:  a short break for the Christmas holiday, and then it's back to back games with the second place (!) Nashville Predators over the weekend.