Morning Chirps: Great second day of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Oilers get two huge returns

The second day of the Stanley Cup Playoffs was far more entertaining than the first day. Plus, most of the Chicago Blackhawks roster is hopping on a plane for a team vacation to start their offseason. Hopefully, next season’s team trip is much later in the spring.

Blackhawks Chirps

• According to Andre Burakovsky’s Instagram account, many of the Blackhawks are heading out on a trip together. Of course, Tyler Bertuzzi has the bucket of Fireball packed for the flight! I’d like to know more about the shirts he and Teuvo Teravainen are wearing. Is that Bertuzzi’s face on them?

• The Brantford Bulldogs will open the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night against the Barrie Colts. We are still waiting on the Western Conference Finals schedule between the Kitchener Rangers and Windsor Spitfires, as Jack Pridham and A.J. Spellacy take each other on.

• Roman Kantserov and Metallurg will have to wait until Saturday to begin their Gagarin Cup semifinal series against Ak Bars.

• On this date in 1971, Hall of Fame goaltender Tony Esposito recorded his first career postseason shutout, as the Blackhawks blanked the New York Rangers 3-0 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, April 20: Blair Atcheynum, Brent Seabrook, and Kurtis Gabriel.

NHL Chirps

• Four more Stanley Cup Playoff series got underway on Sunday. The Colorado Avalanche beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1. Artturi Lehkonen and Logan O’Connor built a 2-0 lead before Artemi Panarin made it a one-goal game with less than three minutes to play. Former Blackhawks goaltender Anton Forsberg made his first career playoff start for the Kings and played well, stopping 28 of 30 shots.

• The Montreal Canadiens struck first blood against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 4-3 overtime win. Juraj Slafkovsky completed his hat trick at 1:22 of overtime to steal Game 1 on the road. All three of his goals came on the power play. The Lightning was led by two former members of the Blackhawks organization, with Darren Raddysh scoring their first goal, followed by a pair from Brandon Hagel.

• The game of the day was in upstate New York, as the Buffalo Sabres stunned the Boston Bruins 4-3. The raucous crowd in Buffalo was quieted for two periods. The frustration was building as the Sabres entered the third period down 2-0 and were 0-for-4 on the power play. Then they exploded for four goals in 6:46 to win Game 1. Tage Thompson led the way with two goals and an assist.

• The Utah Mammoth made their Stanley Cup Playoff debut, and the youngsters went toe-to-toe with the Vegas Golden Knights. Logan Cooley scored the first postseason goal in franchse history to help Utah to a 2-1 lead to start the third period. But the Golden Knights showed their experience by scoring three third-period goals for a 4-2 Game 1 victory.

• Here is tonight's playoff schedule:
  Philadelphia Flyers @ Pittsburgh Penguins (PHI leads 1-0, 6 p.m. CT, ESPN)
  Ottawa Senators @ Carolina Hurricanes (CAR leads 1-0, 6:30 p.m. CT, ESPN2)
  Minnesota Wild @ Dallas Stars (MIN leads 1-0, 8:30 p.m. CT, ESPN)
  Anaheim Ducks @ Edmonton Oilers (Game 1, 9 p.m. CT, ESPN2)

• The Oilers welcomed two key players back to the practice ice on Sunday in Leon Draisaitl and Jason Dickinson. While there was no official word, both forwards could be in the lineup against the Ducks tonight. Draisaitl has been out since March 15 with a lower-body injury, while Dickinson missed the final three games of the regular season with a leg injury.

• The Stars are still unsure when forward Roope Hintz will return to their lineup. Head coach Glen Gulutzan revealed that Hintz has yet to begin skating. A lower-body injury has kept him off the ice since March 6.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, April 20: Viacheslav Fetisov, Chris Mason, Nick Bonino, Colton Sceviour, Derek Grant, Dylan McIlrath, Michael Ferland, Ben Hutton, Shayne Gostisbehere, Adam Erne, and Marshall Warren.

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