There, But For a Slew of Goalposts, Go I: Hawks 5, Predators 2

Well, that was kind of strange.  I've become rather accustomed to The Hawks having to come from behind in the third period, in a close game, anyway, so what happened tonight was off-script to say the least.  The third period was not without its challenges, however, and was concluded in a pretty unusual way.
Panarin got things going for The Hawks after each team had a few feeling-out chances, with a laser from squarely within the NOBODY SCORES FROM THERE zone.  Hawks fans barely had time to enjoy the goal as The Preds stormed back on the next shift with Ekholm snapping a shot that actually looked pretty savable, made possible by a nifty give-and-go with Mike Fisher.  Later in the period, after several strong shifts by The Hawks, Duncan Keith cocked to shoot and, thankfully, instead chose to dish a few feet to Hjalmarsson ('cos you know Keith's shot was gonna hit legs). Hammer double pumped before shooting, as well, which gave Large Arthur another second to establish a Large Screen in front of Pekka Rinne, and boom, Hjalmarsson pots his career-best 5th goal.
On to the third period when, early on, Nashville tied things up with an annoying goal, one that began with a slapper leaking past Crawford and then shuffled in by some guy called Austin Watson. Nashville really took over in the middle of the final frame, hitting the post a total of four times, by my count, so it was a relief when Ryan Hartman "scored" to give The Hawks the lead once more. Richard Panik received a pass in the low slot from Kero, attempted a tweener and then smashed at the puck a few times before it finally deflected in off Hartman's hip.  Or Yannick Weber.  Or Hartman's hand.  Who knows?
After enduring more intense pressure late in the period, Hartman and Panik teamed up once again for an empty-netter that, at first, appeared to have been helped across the goal line by Panik but, apparently, Panik only prevented Nashville's Forsberg from reaching the puck.  Hartman finished off one of the oddest hat tricks I've seen when he lobbed a second empty-netter in from center ice

Wait!  I've got Bits:

Despite being hemmed in several times during the game, particularly in the third period, The Hawks played alright.  Lately, I've felt the need to call out this player or that player but, apart from occasional slip-ups, no one really stood out as having had a weak game.  Crawford was perhaps fortunate with all the goalposts the Preds clanked but, hey, those aren't even shots on net.
Toews fought the puck all night, just being on the wrong side of the inch whether he was shooting, passing or receiving a pass.  With a good bounce here or there he could have salted this thing away at the midway point.
Tanner Kero's best game thus far.  I still regard the kid as marginal, at best, but tonight he racked up a helpie on the game winner and had a few excellent shifts on the PK.
Patrick Kane quietly notched three helpies of his own in what looked to me like a low-key game for him.  
The Fourth Line put together three quite good shifts in which they either a) flipped the ice immediately, b) penned the Predators in their own end, and/or c) created some good scoring chances, which is about as much as we can expect given that only one of those three guys have any finishing skills whatsoever.  And even that's debatable.

Yessir, it was the most peculiar hat trick I've yet to see, as Hartman didn't have to beat a goalie on any of his three markers, but there's nothing like the first time, even if it is a little weird.