Morning Chirps: Lardis stays hot, Devils looking to complete Hughes set

The Chicago Blackhawks will be back on the ice tonight against the Anaheim Ducks after a brutal loss last night. Hopefully, they can bounce back and finish off this four-game road trip with a big win. Get your hockey fix before the Bears and Packers take over your day!

Blackhawks Chirps

• How many times do we have to see this Blackhawks team play a solid first period only to do the opposite in the middle frame? We saw it again last night in their 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings/

• Jeff Blashill says the Blackhawks are a good team, but the advanced stats say they are lucky. Todd Welter takes a look at which one is the truth.

• The Rockford IceHogs dropped their second straight game to the Colorado Eagles last night. Taylor Makar, Cale’s younger brother, scored twice in the first period to provide all the offense the visitors would need. Samiel Savoie sent the stuffed animals flying on Teddy Bear Toss Night. Savoie had three goals over the weekend after being promoted to the top line. He has seven on the season. Nick Lardis had the secondary assist to extend his point streak to four games. He has six goals and 11 points in his last eight games.

• Anton Frondell celebrated being named to Sweden’s World Junior Championship team by scoring a goal on Saturday. He is up to 10 goals and 15 points in 25 SHL games this season.

• Marek Vanacker continued his superb final junior season last night. He recorded his 15th assist of the season in the Brantford Bulldogs’ 7-2 blowout win over the North Bay Battalion. He has 24 goals and 39 points in 25 OHL games.

• On this date in 2022, Marc-Andre Fleury became the eighth goaltender in NHL history to play 900 games. Unfortunately, his milestone was spoiled by a loss to the New York Rangers. Former Blackhawk Artemi Panarin picked up his 500th career point with an assist on the opening goal.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Dec. 7: Earl Seibert

NHL Chirps

• After a lot of talk about a possible coaching change for the Kings, one of their players has now entered the trade rumor mill. Frank Seravalli reported that trade chatter has picked up around center Phillip Danault. He says multiple teams have called inquiring about the veteran center’s availability.

• Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the New Jersey Devils have been actively working the phones this week. He says they have called the Nashville Predators on both Steven Stamkos and Ryan O’Reilly. He added that he believes they also spoke with the Vancouver Canucks about Quinn Hughes. He stressed that he doesn’t believe anything is imminent, or if they are far along in talks. He does know they had a conversation about the star defenseman’s availability.

• The Heritage Classic will return in 2026. The Winnipeg Jets will host the Montreal Canadiens at Princess Auto Stadium on Oct. 25, 2026. This is Winnipeg’s third appearance in the Heritage Classic. They lost to the Edmonton Oilers 5-0 in 2016 and beat the Calgary Flames 2-1 in 2019. This is the Canadiens’ third Heritage Classic and seventh outdoor game. Surprisingly, they have never hosted an outdoor game.

• It’s been a rough season for the St. Louis Blues. Yes, I know that breaks your heart. Things got worse last night as winger Jordan Kyrou left their win over the Ottawa Senators with an injury. He went straight to the locker room, favoring his left leg after a hard hit from Stephen Halliday in the first period. Head coach Jim Montgomery said Kyrou is day-to-day until they get further evaluation when they return home.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Dec. 7: Ching Johnson, Nick Mickoski, Garry Unger, Georges Laraque, Milan Michalek, Riley Sheahan, Sean Couturier, Pavol Regenda, and Zeev Buium.