Morning Chirps: DeBoer returns, Martone's huge first goal

The Chicago Blackhawks will play their final road game of the season tonight against the San Jose Sharks. It will be another chance to play spoiler and keep the Sharks out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Be sure to check back in this afternoon for a full game preview and then some late-night postgame thoughts.

Blackhawks Chirps

• While the current Blackhawks will hit the ice later tonight, some future Blackhawks have their second-round playoff matchups set in the Ontario Hockey League. The top-seeded Brantford Bulldogs will play the North Bay Battalion. In the Eastern Conference, the Kitchener Rangers will take on the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, while the Windsor Spitfires meet the Flint Firebirds. No schedules have been released yet, but those should come out later today.

• Blackhawks fans should keep tabs on what’s going on with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Whoever the next general manager is will be tasked with either retooling a broken roster or tearing down for a complete rebuild. According to Elliotte Friedman, they will tell Auston Matthews they will try to be “back on track” next year. So come back at the start of the year, and see how it goes. I honestly feel that Matthews Knies isn’t going anywhere. If you are trying to get back into the playoffs next season, you will need him on the roster. If they are going to tear it down, then he would be a prime trade candidate.

• On this date in 1961, the Blackhawks hosted the Detroit Red Wings in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. Bobby Hull scored two goals, and Stan Mikita had two assists in a 3-2 victory.

• In 1975, the Blackhawks beat the Minnesota North Stars 3-0 for their 1,200th win in franchise history. The win was also the 500th for head coach Billy Reay, who became just the third head coach to join the 500-win club.

• In 2021, Patrick Kane had a goal and an assist in a 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars. This was his 14th season of at least 50 points, tying Hull for the second-most in team history. Mikita still holds the record with 18 50-point seasons.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, April 6: Doug Stevenson, Darryl Maggs, Gerald Diduck, Ville Nieminen, Travis Moen, Michael Paliotta, and Cole Guttman.

NHL Chirps

• In the craziest move of the day, the New York Islanders fired Patrick Roy with four games to go in the regular season and replaced him with Pete DeBoer. You can understand, to a degree, when the Vegas Golden Knights fired Bruce Cassidy last week. They had been underachieving all season long. The Islanders have been carried by an all-world goaltender and a superstar teenage defenseman. They are the biggest reasons the Islanders are even in contention for a postseason birth. DeBoer isn’t a temporary replacement, as he signed a contract through the 2029-30 season. We all know he won’t make it through the end of his deal.

• The Islanders were knocked out of third place in the Metropolitan Division by the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday. Porter Martone became the first player in franchise history to score his first NHL goal in overtime to beat the Boston Bruins 3-2.

• The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Florida Panthers for the second straight day. Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists in the 5-2 victory to become the first player in NHL history to have 21 point-per-game seasons.

• With another loss by the Detroit Red Wings down the stretch, the Montreal Canadiens clinched their spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This is their 87th trip to the postseason in franchise history.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, April 6: Michel Larocque, Olaf Kolzig, Tyler Wright, Hal Gill, Clarke MacArthur, Ilya Lyubushkin, Pavel Zacha, Nikita Tolopilo, Moritz Seider, Arttu Hyry, and Tobias Bjornfot.