In the immortal words of Nuke Laloosh, "I love winning! It's, you know, better than losing!"

The Chicago Blackhawks went in to Joe Louis Arena, where the Red Wings were waiting without Henrik Zetterberg or Niklas Kronwall, and took the two points that were on the table.

However, you kind of got the feeling that they didn't so much go in and grab the points with authority as much as they kind of got them in a foil covered paper plate like leftovers from a party.

The Hawks got a goal 27 seconds in from Brent Seabrook, then added Ben Smith's first NHL goal, along with tallies from Brian Campbell and Marian Hossa in a 4-2 win over the Leafs, which means they maintained their tenuous lead over the Dallas Stars.


So let's get to this:

THE GOOD:

CT and his wife welcoming their beautiful new daughter into the world last night. First of all, given his daughters' penchant for poking CT in the eyes, the ratio of 3 girls to 2 eyes doesn't bode well for my partner. Also, he's now going to have to contend with potential suitors for his girls. I'm guessing the first one to bring beer gets to marry his choice.

They're still in playoff position. In fact, depending on what happens out West, they could be in decent shape, compared to where they were 6 weeks back, when they were in 11th place. Take that for what it's worth. We could sit here and look back at the schedule and rant about the losses to the Devils, Oilers, etc. That's spilled milk though. In is in - the Hawks gave us too many years in the last couple decades where they were playing out the string at this point.

Smith's first NHL goal. Smith has been working hard here in Chicago, and he obviously knows he's not just working to get the Hawks into the playoffs, but also auditioning for a spot on next year's roster. Nice that he's got a puck to give to his folks. No team has too many hard workers, and it's nice to see someone bringing his lunch bucket to the rink.

Handsome assisted on Seabrook's goal, which makes it his 300th point as a Blackhawk. Now Dave Bolland might get greenlighted for the playoffs. The Hawks are getting healthy again. It's a good time for it.

THE BAD:

The bad is a hypothetical. If the Hawks, or anyone else in the NHL, thinks the Red Wings are going to play this sloppy next week they will be in for a rude awakening. That's not to say the points count any less, but let's not get cocky here.  If the Hawks face the Wings in the playoffs, they can certainly expect to not see what they saw tonight from the team in red.

THE UGLY:

Screw the ugly. Tonight you're getting glorious. Blackhawks/Bruins from December 1970. Grab some popcorn, this is over 8 minutes of awesome. Enjoy.