Morning Chirps: Kantserov & Vanacker add to goal leads, two former first-round picks looking for trades

The Chicago Blackhawks will have no time to lick their wounds after last night's disappointing loss. They are right back on the ice against the Buffalo Sabres tonight. We’ll have the gameday coverage you are used to with a preview later this morning and postgame thoughts after the final horn.

Blackhawks Chirps

• In case you missed my postgame report, many factors led to the Blackhawks losing to the Seattle Kraken last night.

• We went into depth on those factors during the CHGO Blackhawks Postgame Show.

• Heading into the season, many felt Connor Murphy would be moved to a contending team at the trade deadline. However, as the season has progressed, Jeremiah Lee writes that there is more value in keeping him in Chicago.

• Roman Kantserov did it again yesterday. He found a soft spot in the defense and was rewarded with the puck coming right to him. He dropped to one knee and roofed the puck under the crossbar for his 100th career KHL point. Kantserov has a league-leading 19 goals and 32 points in 29 games. He had 38 points in 47 games last season.

• Marek Vanacker extended his Ontario Hockey League goal lead with his second hat trick of the season. He added an assist in the Brantford Bulldogs’ 5-0 win over the Niagara IceDogs for his third four-point game this year. He’s up to 21 goals and 30 points in 20 games.

• On this date in 1964, two Hall of Fame goaltenders dueled each other as the Blackhawks took on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Terry Sawchuk beat Glenn Hall 1-0 to become the first netminder in league history to have a shutout in 16 straight seasons. He extended this streak to an incredible 19 seasons.

• Speaking of shutouts, in 1979, Tony Esposito blanked the Washington Capitals 4-0 for his 70th career shutout. He is still one of only 13 goaltenders with at least 70 shutouts. Defenseman Bob Murray recorded three first-period assists to give Tony O all the offense he needed.

• In 1992, the San Jose Sharks beat the Blackhawks 2-1. The schedule makers got this one right as defenseman Doug Wilson played in his 1,000th career game. This was his 62nd game for the Sharks after the first 938 of his Hall of Fame career were in a Blackhawks uniform.

• In 2021, Marc-Andre Fleury led the Blackhawks to a 1-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks. He passed Roy Worters on the NHL’s all-time shutout list with 68. He also became only the fourth goaltender 36 or older to record a shutout for the Blackhawks.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call: Nov. 21: Butch McDonald, Guyle Fielder, and Jimmy Hayes.

NHL Chirps

• Elliotte Friedman reported that Anaheim Ducks defenseman Pavel Mintyukov is unhappy with his playing time. The 21-year-old blueliner has been scratched for the last two games, and Friedman says he would like to be traded if he isn’t going to play. He was the 10th overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft, and it’s unlikely that the Ducks would be in a hurry to move on from him.

• Speaking of young players looking for a change, Frank Seravalli reported that the Winnipeg Jets have given Brad Lambert’s agent permission to look for a trade partner for his client. The 2022 first-round pick has yet to live up to his potential and has spent most of his professional career in the American Hockey League. For what it’s worth, Lambert was teammates with Nolan Allan, Colton Dach, and Kevin Korchinski with the Seattle Thunderbirds during the 2022-23 season.

• The Colorado Avalanche, who will be at the United Center on Sunday, won their seventh game in a row last night. Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and an assist in a 6-3 victory against the New York Rangers. His three-point effort moved him past Peter Stastny for the second-most points in franchise history with 1,051 and counting. He is still 590 points behind Joe Sakic for the team scoring record.  

• Former Blackhawk Dylan Strome had quite the day. First, he and his wife welcomed their third child, then he went on to record three assists in the Capitals’ 8-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Congratulations to the growing Strome family!

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Nov. 21: Lindsay Carson, Alex Tanguay, Ben Bishop, Antoine Roussel, Andreas Johnsson, Nick DeSimone, Vladislav Gavrikov, and Sebastian Cossa.