Remember last week when the Chicago Blackhawks lost to Columbus and everyone was writing the epitaphs?

It's amazing what 3 wins in a row can do.

Tonight the Hawks went into Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, and shut out the Predators 3-0, meaning the Hawks are now even with Nashville with 70 points each, and the Hawks move into the 7th seed in the Western Conference.

Let's get to this:

THE GOOD:

The Hawks playing the full 60 minutes. They've gotten over their craptacular collapses the past couple games, and they actually put the pedal to the metal in the third, scoring two goals. In fact, I don't think the Hawks have played a better road game all season than they did tonight. They didn't leave any points in the building. They need to do more of this.

The return of Dunc Norris. The Hawks were treated to 2010 vintage Duncan Keith tonight, working hard at both ends of the ice and getting a +2 for his efforts.

Marian. Motherfucking. Hossa. Picked off a David Legwand pass and basically had a penalty shot on Pekka Rinne. I almost felt bad for Rinne. Almost.

Corey Crawford. He saw 31 shots, and stopped them all. He still isn't getting too much heat in the Calder discussion, but he's getting harder to ignore. There were only a couple of "holy shit" saves, but it's not his fault the shots weren't more difficult. Again, this looked like 2010 vintage, where the Hawks team defense wound up making the goalie's life easier.

Ryan Johnson. It seems that every night he's dressed, he's the hardest working Blackhawks' forward. He's been a real steal for the Hawks, more or less filling the John Madden defensive center/penalty killer role. I can actually forgive his previous incarnation as a Vancouver Canuck.

THE BAD:

Faceoffs. That's about it. Somehow they managed to make Mike Underwood look like Jonathan Toews at the dot, but since the Preds also kept coughing up the puck, it really wasn't that big a factor.

THE UGLY:

I'm guessing by now you folks are tired of us always listing Barry Trotz as "The Ugly" every time the Hawks play Nashville. Too bad. Trotz is horrible looking. If you could take someone's looks and transform them into a living, breathing, entity, Trotz's appearance would turn into Charlie Sheen.

Next up for the Hawks is a home game Sunday against the Coyotes. Stop by Section 314 and say hello.