Morning Chirps: Behm's big night, Kane closer to history

The Chicago Blackhawks are back in action as the two-time and defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are in town. We’ll have all the updates from morning skate in our game preview, then a full breakdown of the action after its conclusion.

Blackhawks Chirps

• The Blackhawks have made many moves over the past few seasons, trading seasoned veterans for a stockpile of draft picks that are starting to form the core of the current team. John Bloomer takes a look at what the Blackhawks’ roster could look like had they not made any trades.

• NHL teams can send players back to the American Hockey League during the upcoming Olympic break. Josh Prost lists a handful of candidates who could be spending those three weeks in Rockford.

• Speaking of the Rockford IceHogs, they lost 4-1 to the Chicago Wolves last night. They dropped both of their games over the weekend, getting outscored 9-1. Sam Rinzel left the game in the second period with a left foot/ankle injury, but returned in the third to score the lone IceHogs’ goal, his second in the AHL. Adian Thompson, who returned from injury last night, had the primary assist for his seventh helper of the season. Rockford returns to action Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Admirals.

• Nathan Behm scored two goals in the Kamloops Blazers’ 5-2 win over the Spokane Chiefs. He has 26 goals and leads all Blackhawks’ prospects with 60 points in his 43 Western Hockey League games this season.

• Julius Sumpf scored a goal and recorded an assist to lead Providence College to a 4-0 win over Boston University, sweeping their weekend home-and-home series.

• Jack Pridham continued his recent tear through the Ontario Hockey League with a power-play goal and an assist in the Kitchener Rangers’ 4-3 overtime win over the Erie Otters. He has eight goals and 16 points during his seven-game point streak.

• On this date in 1964, Phil Esposito scored his first NHL goal in the Blackhawks’ 5-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. The first 74 of his 717 career goals came in a Blackhawks uniform.

• In 1994, Jeremy Roenick scored his 200th career goal and recorded an assist in a 5-0 victory over the Red Wings. Ed Belfour earned the 20th shutout of his career.

• One year later, the Blackhawks beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in the first game played at the United Center. Joe Murphy scored the first goal in the new building. The Blackhawks had an average attendance of 20,833 during the 1994-95 season, becoming the first NHL team to average more than 20,000 fans per game.

• In 1997, the Blackhawks traded Belfour to the San Jose Sharks for Chris Terreri, Ulf Dahlen, and Michal Sykora. Belfour played 552 games after this trade before retiring, while the Blackawks got a combined 142 games out of the trio of players acquired for him.

• In 2015, the Columbus Blue Jackets hosted the NHL All-Star Game. The format included a draft the night before the game, with the two squads being picked by Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews and Blue Jackets Captain Nick Foligno. Team Toews beat Team Foligno 17-12, setting All-Star Game records for the goals scored by one team and the most combined goals by both teams.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Jan. 25: Corb Denneny, Autry Erikson, and Chris Chelios.

NHL Chirps

• Ottawa Senators head coach Travis Green revealed that goaltender Linus Ullmark is close to returning from his leave of absence. He didn’t rule out the return coming as early as tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights.

• William Nylander skated on his own ahead of Saturday’s Toronto Maple Leafs practice. The star forward has missed the last four games with a groin injury after missing six games earlier in the season with the same injury. There is no timetable for his return, but seeing him on the ice has to make Maple Leafs fans and Team Sweden happy.

• The Panthers were in St. Paul last night to take on the Minnesota Wild. It was a night of returns as Olympians Matt Boldy and Brad Marchand both returned from injuries to their respective clubs. Boldy had a goal and an assist, but Marchand was the hero. His second goal and third point of the night won the game for Florida in overtime.

• Patrick Kane picked up an assist on Alex DeBrincat’s empty-net goal to give him 1,373 career points. He is one point shy of tying Mike Modano for the most points in NHL history for a U.S.-born player.

• The Oilers beat the Washington Capitals in a wild 6-5 overtime affair. Defenseman Evan Bouchar had a night for the ages by factoring in all six goals. He scored the first hat trick by an Oilers defenseman in 20 years. He also joined Paul Coffey and Kevin Lowe as the only blueliners in team history to have a six-point game.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Jan. 25: Fern Flaman, Rick Bowness, Bob Sweeney, Esa Tikkanen, Paul Renheim, Randy McKay, Jared Cowen, Philippe Myers, and Noah Hanifan.