Morning Chirps: Rinzel's Olympic break plans, another big injury for Panthers

The Chicago Blackhawks will be back to work today after snapping their five-game losing streak last night. They will practice before hopping on a plane to Ohio to take on the red-hot Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday, the final game before the Olympic break.

Blackhawks Chirps

• While all the attention was on the Connor Bedard/Macklin Celebrini rivalry, it was the Blackhawks’ veteran depth scoring that stole the show last night. Check out my postgame thoughts on the big 6-3 win over the San Jose Sharks.

• We broke down the game even further on the CHGO Blackhawks Postgame Show.

• I also wrote that the similarities between the Blackhawks and Sharks don’t stop on the ice; they carry over behind the respective benches.

• Frank Seravalli reported on CHSN that defenseman Sam Rinzel will return to the Rockford IceHogs for the Olympic break. He added that he will be the only player sent down for the break.  

• The trade deadline is not far after the Olympic break ends, and Kyle Bokota says the Blackhawks should be both buyers AND sellers.

• On this date in 1982, Grant Mulvey became the first player in Blackhawks history to have a five-goal game, leading the way in a 9-5 victory over the St. Louis Blues. He added two assists to finish off a seven-point night, tying Max Bentley’s 1943 record for the most points in a game. This was also Bob Pulford’s first game in his second stint as Blackhawks head coach after he fired Keith Magnuson.

• Speaking of Pulford, in 2000, he became the first person in NHL history to coach 800 games after playing 800. His milestone night came during his fourth stint as Blackhawks head coach and ended in a 5-5 tie with the Calgary Flames.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Feb. 3: Tony Horacek, Keith Carney, Jim Campbell, and Steve McCarthy.

NHL Chirps

• The biggest news of the day came out of Nashville, as Predators general manager Barry Trotz announced he will be stepping down. He will remain in the role until the team finds his replacement, and will continue to serve as an adviser.

"I've been in pro sports in some shape or form probably for 40 years now, and there comes a time when you realize that a lot of the stuff you've done and you've been immersed, you can't be sometimes present in both places. You can't be present in your job, and you can't be present at home. I just felt there's an end date. There's a responsibility that I feel to my family. I think you see your kids grow up, I'm very proud of my kids. Now they're getting married, [I’ve] got grandkids now. You're missing a lot of the dates. In this business, our kids very seldom have their birthdays on their birthdays; seldom am I present even at their birthdays sometimes. Those things that we always had to change, we did all of that. Now you've got grandkids, you've got all that, it becomes a little bit more real. A little bit of mortality, if you will … I don't know if I'm going to be here tomorrow, and so I want to have some of those things with my family."

Barry Trotz

• The Predators responded by erasing a 5-1 deficit and beat the Blues 6-5. Steven Stamkos scored the game-tying and game-winning goal. His turnaround this season has been incredible. After scoring four goals in his first 22 games, he has 23 in his last 33.

• The Florida Panthers lost 5-3 to the Buffalo Sabres. To make matters worse, Sam Bennett left the game with an upper-body injury. Add him to the injured list that already includes Aleksander Barkov and Anton Lundell. The two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions find themselves nine points out of a playoff spot with less than 30 games left to play. Tick tock.

• Quinn Hughes recorded his 400th career assist on the Minnesota Wild’s overtime goal that beat the Montreal Canadiens. He became the first player in franchise history to have five three-assist games in the same season. The only two defensemen to record 400 helpers faster than Hughes in NHL history are Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey. Perhaps you’ve heard of them.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Feb 3: Lynn Patrick, Tiger Williams, Mark Kirton, Frantisek Kucera, Mathieu Dandenault, Marek Zidlicky, Paul Gaustad, Andrei Kostitsyn, Jonathan Merrill, Sam Steel, Michael McLeod, Jack Drury, and Owen Beck.