Morning Chirps: Elimination day at World Juniors, Matthews makes history in comeback win

The Chicago Blackhawks have been rewarded with a day off after their big win last night. They will head to the airport later today for Saturday night's road game against the struggling Washington Capitals. Meanwhile, we get to enjoy four elimination games at the World Junior Championship. Happy Friday, indeed!

Blackhawks Chirps

• Last night, the Blackhawks won the special teams battle, got another goal from Artyom Levshunov, and benefited from the new dad bump as they won their second straight game over the Dallas Stars.

• Another home meant another night of me hanging out on the CHGO Blackhawks Postgame Show.

• Before last night's game, Jeff Blashill didn’t sugarcoat how he felt about Connor Bedard being left off the Canadian Olympic team.

• If you’re off from work today, don’t forget about the quarterfinals at the World Junior Championships. Anton Frondell and Sweden have arguably been the best team of the tournament so far. They will play Latvia at 1 pm. After that, Czechia and Vasclav Nestrasil take on Switzerland at 3:30 pm. Team USA, looking to win its third straight tournament, plays Finland at 5 pm. This is a rematch of last year’s gold medal game. Let’s see how much A.J. Spellacy’s physicality impacts the outcome. The final quarterfinal of the day pits Canada against Slovakia at 7:30 pm.

• On this date in 2017, the Blackhawks played in another Winter Classic, which, of course, meant a loss. This time around, they lost 4-1 to the St. Louis Blues at Busch Stadium. Defenseman Michael Kempny had the lone goal for the Blackhawks. Vladimir Tarasenko was the hero by scoring a pair of goals less than two minutes apart in the third period.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Jan. 2: Brian Bocher and Andrew Ebbett.

NHL Chirps

• The Florida Panthers will host the New York Rangers in the Winter Classic later tonight. The Rangers will still be without their captain, J.T. Miller, who has been out since Dec. 20 with an upper-body injury. Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk has been skating recently, but he is not ready yet to make his season debut.

• According to Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, goaltender Tristan Jarry should return from his lower-body injury in mid-January. The Oilers will have an interesting choice regarding who will play behind Jarry. Connor Ingram has outplayed Calvin Pickard since being recalled to the NHL and has made a case to stick around.

• Former Blackhawks defenseman Jaycob Megna is back in the NHL. He was recalled by the Vegas Golden Knights after Brayden McNabb went down with an upper-body injury. The Golden Knights will be at the United Center on Sunday.

• The Toronto Maple Leafs erased a 4-1 deficit to beat the Winnipeg Jets 6-5. Auston Matthews led the comeback by scoring his 14th career hat trick, passing Pat LaFontaine for the most by an American-born player. Meanwhile, the Jets have three points fewer than the Blackhawks and are dead last in the NHL. Just like we all predicted!

• Comedian Will Ferrell showed up to last night’s Los Angeles Kings game not to show support to the home team, but rather for the guys in the striped shirts!

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Jan. 2: Harry Hyland, Glen Harmon, Peter Lee, Rick Tabaracci, Robert Svehle, Mattias Norstrom, Zenon Konopka, Jacob Middleton, Akil Thomas, and Cole Caufield.