Morning Chirps: Toews makes NHL return, Crosby makes more history.

The Chicago Blackhawks returned home with one point on their tough two-game road trip to start the season. They will open the home portion of their schedule tomorrow night at the United Center when they host the Montreal Canadiens. It’s Friday! Let’s celebrate with some Chirps.

Blackhawks Chirps

• The Blackhawks lost to the Boston Bruins last night, but Jeff Blashill and Connor Bedard both thought there was plenty of good to come out of it—all that and more in my Postgame Musings from last night.

• The team is off today after traveling back, so we won’t have an update on injured forward Jason Dickinson until after tomorrow’s morning skate.

• If you’re looking for me on X, I had to start a backup account as my account was hacked. Hopefully, it will be back in commission soon, but I’ll be talking hockey here for the time being.

• On this date in 1979, Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers made their National Hockey League debut with a 4-2 loss to the Blackhawks. Gretzky picked up the first of his 2,857 career points with an assist on Kevin Lowe’s goal, the first NHL goal in team history. Stan Mikita started his 22nd and final season with a primary assist on the first of two goals by John Marks.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Oct. 10: Jeff Shantz, Rostislav Olesz, and Ilya Mikheyev.

NHL Chirps

• Former Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews made his debut for the Winnipeg Jets last night, playing in his first NHL game in over 900 days. The homecoming was unsuccessful, with the Jets losing 5-4 to the Dallas Stars, who led 5-1 at one point. Toews had no points, one shot on goal, and won seven of his eight faceoffs in his return.

• Staying in Winnipeg, after extending Kyle Connor, the Jets’ top priority now is to lock up team captain Adam Lowry. TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that contract talks are still in the “preliminary” stages.

• Minnesota Wild forward Nico Sturm will likely need back surgery in the coming days and is expected to miss the next 6-8 weeks.

• The Oilers placed defenseman Jake Walman on injured reserve with an upper-body injury just a few days after signing him to a big seven-year contract extension. The move is retroactive to Sept. 21, so he can return at any time. The move allows the Oilers to add the recently signed Jack Roslovic to the roster.

• Filip Forsberg had an assist on the game-winning goal as the Nashville Predators beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1. He now has a point in 10 straight season-opening games. He is one of only five players in league history to have such a streak. Vincent Lecavlier and Viktor Kozlov had streaks of 11 straight season-opening games with a point.

• The Pittsburgh Penguins are off to a surprising 2-0-0 start after beating the New York Islanders 4-3 last night. Sidney Crosby scored his 626th career goal in the win to pass Joe Sakic for the fifth-most by a player for one franchise. Fellow Penguins legend, Mario Lemieux, is fourth on the list with 690 goals.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Oct. 10: Gerry Carson, Edgar Laprade, Dallas Smith, Pete Mahovlich, Bob Nystrom, Ron Flockhart, Mike Donnelly, Alexei Zhitnik, Brian Holzinger, Chris Pronger, Shane Doan, and Georgii Merkulov.