Morning Chirps: Boisvert update, Goal of the Year candidate

The Chicago Blackhawks have an off day in Las Vegas before taking on the Golden Knights tomorrow night. They deserve it after another big overtime last night. Start your Friday off with a fresh batch of Morning Chirps.

Blackhawks Chirps

• The Blackhawks continued to show the growth that head coach Jeff Blashill wants to see as Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, and Spencer Knight led the way in another overtime win over the Utah Mammoth. Check out my late-night postgame thoughts if you went to bed early.

• Frank Seravalli had somewhat of an update on Sacha Boisvert during the CHSN pregame show. I spent my Thursday reaching out to my credible college hockey sources to get a sense of what exactly is going on. Nobody really had anything concrete, but there is nothing nefarious going on despite what some random people might say on social media. The season did not go well for Boisvert, and it sounds like there is frustration over his talking about going pro while the season was still going on. In fact, don’t be surprised if he’s in the lineup for tomorrow’s Hockey East quarterfinal.

• Justin Lynch was busy on Thursday. First, he checked in on what the backup goaltender plans are for next season and then took a look at what’s going on with Kevin Korchinski.

• Anton Frondell scored an empty-net goal yesterday. It was his 19th goal of the season and fourth in his last six games. He also recorded an assist to bring his point total to 27 in 42 games. The SHL regular season wraps up today. Djurgårdens IF is locked into 9th place, so they will play in a best-of-three series against either Luleå HF or Malmö Redhawks.

• On this date in 1966, Glenn Hall became the second goaltender in league history to post six 30-win seasons by beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1.

• In 1976, the Blackhawks beat the Minnesota North Stars 4-1, making Billy Reay the NHL’s winningest head coach in NHL history for one team with 501 victories.

NHL Chirps

• The Ottawa Senators will have a first-round pick in this year's draft after all. They were supposed to forfeit their pick after failing to disclose Evgenii Dadonov’s trade protection to the Golden Knights in 2021. The NHL has given them their pick back, and it will be the final first-round pick regardless of where the Senators finish in the standings. The combination of a new owner and a new general manager led to the change of heart.

• Former Blackhawks defenseman Ian Mitchell is on the move again. He was acquired by the Tampa Bay Lightning from the Detroit Red Wings for forwards Wojciech Stachowiak and Michael Milne. All three players will report to their respective AHL clubs.

• Radko Gudas will not be getting many Christmas cards from Canada this year. After injuring Sidney Crosby at the Olympics, Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews was his next victim. While Crosby had no hard feelings about Gudas’ hit on him, I’m not sure Matthews will feel the same. To make matters worse, not a single blue sweater went after Gudas after the hit. The Blackhawks stood up more for Matt Grzelcyk last night after an accidental high stick than the Maple Leafs did for their captain after a dirty hit.

• William Eklund scored this ridiculous goal in the San Jose Sharks' 4-2 win over the Boston Bruins.

• Jason Dickinson scored his first goal with the Edmonton Oilers in their 7-2 loss to the Dallas Stars.

• The crazy game even featured Connor McDavid dropping the gloves to get after Justin Hryckowian. Now that’s something you don’t see every day!

NHL Birthday Roll Call, March 13: Blaine Stoughton, Barry Pederson, Petri Skriko, Landon Wilson, Dalton Prout, Brayden Point, Michael Pezzetta, and Justin Robidas.