Morning Chirps: Murray memorials roll in, Foligno debuts for Wild

The Chicago Blackhawks have a quick turnaround after a tough loss yesterday as they host the Utah Mammoth tonight. You know the game-day drill by now: start it with these Morning Chirps, come back for a game preview, then end the night with my postgame thoughts.

Blackhawks Chirps

• For a moment, it looked like the Blackhawks would flip the script and be the team that steals a win with a late comeback. Unfortunately, they couldn’t pull off the season sweep of the Dallas Stars in overtime. Check out my postgame thoughts from last night's loss.

• Darren Pang and Tony Granato were on the TNT panel for their coverage of Hockey Day in America on Sunday. They gave this heartfelt tribute to the late, great Troy Murray.

• The Chicago Sports Network put together this wonderful tribute to Murray’s legacy with the Blackhawks.

• On this date in 2021, Patrick Kane became the young player in franchise history to play 1,000 games, breaking his teammate Brent Seabrook’s record. Unfortunately, his milestone night was spoiled by a 6-1 loss to the Stars.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, March 9: Eddie Ouellette, Phil Houseley, Bryan Bickell, Dominic Toninato, and Riley Stillman.

NHL Chirps

• The San Jose Sharks swapped out former Blackhawk defensemen on Sunday. They recalled Nick Leddy from the American Hockey League and re-assigned Nolan Allan, who has yet to make his debut with the Sharks.

• Nick Foligno made his debut with the Minnesota Wild in a big game against the Colorado Avalanche. Sporting No. 71, the former Blackhawks captain, played nine minutes for his new team and did not find the scoresheet in a 3-2 shootout loss.

• The Avalanche were without their captain, Gabriel Landeskog, in St. Paul and will be for some time. He is considered week-to-week after getting hit in a very sensitive area by a Cale Makar shot.

• The Tampa Bay Lightning and Buffalo Sabres played the game of the year last night. The 8-7 Sabres win was only the fourth game in the last 30 years to have at least seven players with three or more points. Buffalo coughed up a 4-1 lead and fell behind 7-5 before scoring the game’s final three goals to overtake the Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division. The game featured 112 total penalty minutes, which seems to happen a lot in Lightning games these days. Four of those minutes were given to Brandon Hagel for this ugly incident with Rasmus Dahlin. Punching someone repeatedly in the back of the head while he’s trying to skate away is not a good look.

• If you’ve watched Rockford IceHogs games over the past few years, you know the name, Dominik Shine. He’s played 521 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins, and last night, he scored his first NHL goal. At 32 years, 242 days old, he became the oldest Detroit Red Wings player to score his first NHL goal since Vaclav Nedomansky at 33 years, 269 days in 1979.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, March 9: Paul McLean, Perry Turnbull, Radek Dvorak, Chris Phillips, Colin Greening, Damien Brunner, Ryan Dzingel, Morgan Reilly, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Pontus Holmberg, Matthew Robertson, Jacob Gaucher, Ozzy Wiesblatt, and Yan Kuzentsov.