Morning Chirps: New line combos, Danault traded

The Chicago Blackhawks will try to salvage the final game of their three-game Canadian road trip. That will be no easy task against the Ottawa Senators. Stick around for a full preview later this morning and postgame coverage when the game concludes.

Blackhawks Chirps

• Ben Pope shared the lines from yesterday’s Blackhawks practice in Ottawa. By the looks of it, we’ve gotten to the “throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks” point of the season. Head coach Jeff Blashill said he’s not married to the combinations, which is a good thing. If Nick Lardis is going to play on the fourth line with Colton Dach and Sam Lafferty, he’s better off in Rockford. We’ll see later today if these hold true.

• Jereimiah Lee had some suggestions on how the Blackhawks can improve their offensive chances today.

• The KHL was back in action on Friday after a two-week break. Roman Kantserov scored an empty-net goal in Metallurg Magnitogorsk’s 7-4 win over Traktor Chelyabinsk. He still leads the league with 23 goals. He’s on a four-game point streak and has seven goals and 13 points in his last 10 games.

• On this date in 1953, Bill Mosienko had two goals and an assist in the Blackhawks’ 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs to give him 500 career points.

• Six years later, the Blackhawks scored seven times in the second period to beat the Maple Leafs 7-4. Bobby Hull’s four-point night included his second career hat trick.

• In 1970, Hull and Pit Martin scored the goals in a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. This pushed the Blackhawks’ winning streak at the Chicago Stadium to a team-record 13 games, and their unbeaten streak on home ice to 18 games (16-0-2).

• In 1989, the Blackhawks set a franchise record with four goals in 1:56 of the third period to beat the St. Louis Blues 9-6. Hall of Famer Doug Wilson had a goal and three helpers to become the first Blackhawks defenseman to record 500 assists.

• In 1997, Dmitri Nabokov scored two power-play goals in his NHL debut, while goaltender Jeff Hackett recorded his second straight shutout in the Blackhawks’ 5-0 win at the Vancouver Canucks.

NHL Chirps

• The Edmonton Oilers’ goaltending situation has turned into quite a soap opera. Tristan Jarry, whom they just acquired for Stuart Skinner a week ago, has been placed on injured reserve after suffering a lower-body injury in his third start with the team. According to Elliotte Friedman, the Oilers have recently called the Buffalo Sabres “a couple of times” about Alex Lyon. With Jarry going down, you’d have to think those phone calls are being made more frequently. The Oilers recalled Connor Ingram from the AHL to take Jarry’s place on the roster.

• Phillip Danault is going back to the Montreal Canadiens after the Los Angeles Kings traded him for a 2026 second-round pick. He had the best seasons of his career with the Canadiens, scoring 54 goals and 194 points in 360 games, while establishing himself as an elite defensive center.

• The Dallas Stars announced that Tyler Seguin underwent successful surgery to repair his torn right ACL. The team said they will reevaluate him after the Olympic break, not ruling out a return for this season.

• According to Bruce Garrioch, numerous teams are interested in acquiring Canucks forward Keifer Sherwood, including the Senators, Stars, Boston Bruins, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, and Tampa Bay Lightning. Sherwood drove up his trade value last night with a hat trick in a 4-1 win over the Islanders.

• Not only did the Carolina Hurricanes blow a three-goal lead to the Florida Panthers last night, but they lost one of their best players in the process. Seth Jarvis left the game after falling hard into the net. The only update head coach Rob Brind’Amour had after the game was that Jarvis would be “out for a while.”

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Dec. 20: Charlie Conacher, Mike Christie, Bill Clement, Travis Green, Cory Stillman, Andrej Markov, Derek Dorsett, Chris Tanev, William Carrier, and Nils Hoglander.