Morning Chirps: Kansterov does it again, Dickinson's stirring it up for Oilers

The Chicago Blackhawks won’t have much time to dwell on last night’s bad loss, as they are in Madison Square Garden tonight to take on the New York Rangers. We’ll have full game coverage throughout the day, so be sure to check back in.

Blackhawks Chirps

• The Blackhawks had another slow start against the Philadelphia Flyers last night, but were unable to recover this time. Check out my postgame thoughts from the sloppy and disjointed loss.

• Don’t forget to sign up for the Blackhawk Up newsletter for even more content. This morning, subscribers were given a breakdown of Connor Bedard’s 30th goal of the season and how Anton Frodell was rewarded for making the right play.

• While Bedard and Frondell are building their chemistry, Justin Lynch wonders if Nick Larids and Frank Nazar are forming another great duo. The

• Two days after re-signing Jamie Englebert, the Rockford IceHogs signed forward Kevin Lombardi to a one-year contract extension. The 27-year-old has 12 goals and 21 points in 32 AHL games this season. He also has nine goals and 18 points in 15 ECHL games for the Indy Fuel.

• With Anton Frondell and Sacha Boisvert debuting over the last two games, the next big NHL premiere on tap will be that of Roman Kantserov. However, the young Russian goal scorer will not be here until next season. He’s currently helping Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the KHL playoffs. He scored a goal and added an assist for the second straight game on Thursday to lead his team to a 2-0 series lead over Sibir Novosibirsk.

• The Ontario Hockey League playoffs started last night. A.J. Spellacy had a secondary assist in the Windsor Spitfires’ 4-0 win over the Guelph Storm to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven series. Tonight will be a busy night with the Brantford Bulldogs and Kitchener Rangers in action. Plus, Nathan Behm and the Kamloops Blazers open the Western Hockey League postseason.

• On this date in 2002, Phil Housley scored the game-winning goal in a 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators to become the first U.S.-born defenseman to score 1,200 NHL points.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, March 27: Bryan Campbell, Ken Solheim, and Dustin Byfuglien.

NHL Chirps

• The Utah Mammoth will be without center Barrett Hayton for the foreseeable future. Head coach Andre Tourigny said he is week-to-week with an upper-body injury. He suffered the injury in a collision with teammate Jack McBain on Tuesday.

• The Pittsburgh Penguins scored a big shootout victory over the Ottawa Senators last night, but it came at a cost. Captain Sidney Crosby left the game early in the second period with a lower-body injury. A seemingly harmless check from Nick Cousins late in the first period left Crosby in some discomfort. Head coach Dan Muse had no updates after the game.

• The Foligno brothers finally got to play together last night as Marcus Foligno returned to the Minnesota Wild’s lineup. In fact, head coach John Hynes put him and his older brother Nick together on the same line. Marcus scored the opening goal in the Wild’s 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.

• The Pacific Division is still up for grabs, which ramped up the emotions in last night’s game between the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights. Former Blackhawk Jason Dickinson caused a big brawl at the end of the first period by taking a run at Shea Theodore. He was given a two-minute minor for boarding. Earlier in the opening frame, Connor Murphy dropped the gloves with Cole Smith. The Oilers got the last laugh with a 4-3 win thanks to Evan Bouchard’s overtime goal.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, March 27: Brit Selby, Curt Bennett, Bobby Lalonde, and Daniil Tarasov.