Morning Chirps: Panthers eliminated, PWHL sets attendance record

The Chicago Blackhawks have an off day today before playing their final road game of the regular season at the San Jose Sharks tomorrow. The Sharks will be a desperate team coming off a loss to the Predators last night, and trailing the race for the wild card by two points.

Blackhawks Chirps

• The Blackhawks held onto their third-period lead against the Kraken last night instead of letting it slip away. Check out my postgame thoughts from late last night on how this young team is growing before our eyes.

• Frank Nova and I had a special Saturday matinee at the Second Balcony! We discussed our initial impressions of Anton Frondell and Sacha Boisvert, the young blueline, including the progression of Kevin Korchinski, and dove into the deep end of the Blackhawks’ prospect pool.

• The Rockford IceHogs could not sweep the home-and-home series against the Iowa Wild, as they were shut out 4-0 on home ice. It was a missed opportunity, as the Milwaukee Admirals lost and remain six points out of a playoff spot with five games to go. They will have a three-game weekend starting with another home game against Iowa on Friday before hitting the road for games at the Grand Rapids Griffins and Chicago Wolves.

• Mason West had the shootout winner to give the Fargo Force a 3-2 victory over the Tri-City Storm in their regular-season finale. The Force has a bye into the Western Conference Semifinals, so they will enjoy a few days off before beginning their postseason run.

• The Blackhawks played a crazy game on this date in 1970. They hosted the Montreal Canadiens in the regular-season finale, who needed to earn a point or score at least five goals to clinch a postseason berth. Once they fell behind 5-2 midway through the third period, the Canadiens played the rest of the game without their goal. The strategy didn’t work, as the Blackhawks scored five empty-net goals to win 10-2 and set a team record for six goals in a span of 9:13. This was the only season between 1948-49 and 1994-95 when the Canadiens did not make the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, April 5: Don Deitrich and Zack Smith.

NHL Chirps

• The Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning clinched their spots in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This is the first time the Sabres have advanced to the postseason since 2011. Meanwhile, the Florida Panthers’ two-year reign as Stanley Cup Champions has officially come to an end as they were eliminated from playoff contention.

• The Los Angeles Kings set an NHL record by playing in their 31st overtime game this season. They beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-6 to find themselves tied with the Predators for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. Nashville holds the tiebreaker since the Kings have only 19 regulation wins. The only team with fewer is the 32nd-place Vancouver Canucks.

• Sid Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will always be mentioned in the same breath in Pittsburgh, much like Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are in Chicago. Crosby had two assists in Saturday’s 9-4 win over the Panthers to pass Steve Yzerman (1,755) for the seventh-most points all-time. Malkin had three goals and an assist to give him 1,403 career points. He’s only the 23rd player in NHL history to score at least 1,400 points.

• Matthew Schaeffer has a long way to go to be at the same level as Crosby and Malkin, but he’s off to a great start. He had an assist in the New York Islanders' 4-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes to become the highest-scoring 18-year-old defenseman in NHL history with 78 points.

• Madison Square Garden hosted a PWHL game between the New York Sirens and Seattle Torrent and set a U.S. attendance record for a women’s hockey game with 18,006 fans.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, April 5: John Hanna, Doug Favell, Gord Donnelly, Brent Hughes, Trevor Letowski, Bo Horvat, Matt Boldy, John Beecher, Fedor Svechkov, Jorian Donavan, and Luca Pinelli.