Morning Chirps: Athanasiou Returns, Fantilli Hat Trick, Markstrom Injured

The Chicago Blackhawks will return to the practice ice later this morning for another chance to prepare for tomorrow’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Hopefully, they will have more participants than they did yesterday. A familiar face returned for the Rockford IceHogs last night, but it wasn’t enough to earn a win. Plus, get updates from across the NHL, including a hat trick and a huge goaltending injury.

Blackhawks Chirps

• In case you missed it, check out my recap from Wednesday morning’s practice with quotes from interim head coach Anders Sorensen.
• Our Blackhawks Prospects of the Week were four recent draft picks nominated for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the best college hockey player.
• Mark Lazerus of The Athletic spoke to Tyler Bertuzzi and has a nice write-up of his now-famous one-knee goal stance.
• The Chicago Sun-Times’ Ben Pope took a trip to Rockford and spoke to future fan-favorite Samuel Savoie.
• On this date in 1973, Bobby Hull extended his team-record point streak to 21 games with a goal and an assist during a 4-0 shutout of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He held this record until Patrick Kane had a 26-game point streak in 2015.

IceHogs Chirps

• The IceHogs earned a hard-fought point with a 5-4 overtime loss to the Milwaukee Admirals last night. The Admirals scored the first two goals of the night before the IceHogs scored four straight to take a 4-2 lead with less than 13 minutes to play. Milwaukee answered with three more goals to complete the comeback in overtime. Rockford got goals from Jackson Cates (2), Marcel Marcel (2), Landon Slaggert (10), and Matteo Peitroniro (1). Former Blackhawk Anders Bjork scored an overtime goal and recorded an assist for his first two points with Milwaukee. Former IceHogs Ryder Rolston had an assist in the third period.
• Andreas Athanasiou returned to action. He had been out since Nov. 17 with a broken wrist. He picked up an assist on Slaggert’s goal, his first helper with the IceHogs.
• Speaking to Pope must have been good luck for Savioe, as he picked up a pair of helpers to bring his season total to eight.
• Goaltender Mitchell Weeks allowed five goals on 42 shots. The IceHogs will be back in action on Saturday when they host the Chicago Wolves.

NHL Chirps

• Former Blackhawks defenseman Riley Stillman is back in the NHL as he was recalled by the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday. He’s spent much of the season, when healthy, playing with the Wolves in the AHL.
• The San Jose Sharks claimed winger Walker Duehr off waivers from the Calgary Flames. The 27-year-old has one assist in 16 NHL games this season, with 11 goals and 19 points in 20 AHL contests.
• There were a few injury updates from around the league. David Perron is ready to return for the Ottawa Senators, but they will be without the services of Josh Norris at least through the weekend. The Winnipeg Jets announced that Adam Lowry is week-to-week after falling awkwardly into the boards Monday night. Finally, Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin won’t play this weekend and is still considered week-to-week.
• Adam Fantilli scored his first career hat trick to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 5-1 win over the Maple Leafs. The Toronto native had a large group of family and friends in attendance for his big night. In fact, his mom was the first to throw a hat onto the ice. How cool is that?

• Auston Matthews had the lone goal for the Maple Leafs for his 20^th of the season. His nine 20-goal seasons tie him with Darryl Sittler in franchise history. He also tied former Blackhawk Tony Amonte for the fifth-most consecutive 20-goal seasons by an American-born player. Brett Hull holds that record with 17 seasons in a row with at least 20 goals.
• The New Jersey Devils beat the Boston Bruins 5-1, but the win came at a high cost. Star goaltender Jacob Markstrom left the game after Justin Brazeau crashed into him. According to New Jersey Hockey Now’s James Nichols, head coach Sheldon Keefe said his top netminder will “miss some time.”