Morning Chirps: Green & Boisvert Advance, Panthers & Bennett Talking

The Chicago Blackhawks are off today after returning home from their 0-3-1 road trip. They will be back on the practice ice tomorrow before hosting the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday. The Rockford IceHogs had their winning streak end, while other prospects are advancing in their college conference tournaments. Let’s start your Sunday off with a fresh batch of chirps!

Blackhawks Chirps

• The Blackhawks allowed only 15 shots on goal and somehow still found a way to lose 6-2 to the Vancouver Canucks last night.
• Mark Lazerus of The Athletic on Alex Vlasic, the Blackhawks’ de facto No. 1 defenseman since Seth Jones was traded last month.
• Ilya Mikheyev has been playing his best hockey of the season lately, and Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times looked into the reasons why.
• Ryan Greene picked up an assist in Boston University’s 3-2 win over UMass to become the 79^th player in program history to score 100 career points. He joins players like Joe Cullen, Chris Drury, Mike Eruzione, Tony Amonte, and Mike Grier in the Terrier’s 100-point club. With the win, BU advanced to the Hockey East Semifinals, where they will play UConn on Thursday.

• Dominic James put Minnesota-Duluth up 5-4 in the third period, but Arizona State came back to win in overtime to advance to the NCHC semifinals next week. UMD will not get an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament, so that was James’ final college goal. It will be interesting to see if he joins the IceHogs in the near future.

• Sacha Boisvert had two assists, including on the game-winning goal as North Dakota beat Omaha to advance to the NCHC semifinals.

• Aidan Thompson had a power-play goal and an assist in Denver’s 6-2 win over Colorado College, forcing a third and final game in their NCHC quarterfinal series.

• The NCHC semifinals and final will be held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN, on Friday and Saturday. The matchups will not be determined until the outcome of tomorrow’s game. If Denver wins, they will play Arizona State, and North Dakota will play Western Michigan. If Colorado College wins, they’ll play Western Michigan, and North Dakota and Arizona State will meet in the other half of the bracket. CBS Sports Network will broadcast all three games from St. Paul.
• On this date in 1971, defenseman Keith Magnuson set a new NHL single-season record for penalty minutes (PIM) during a 6-4 win in Vancouver. He earned two minors to give him 274 PIM on the season, breaking Howie Young’s old record set in 1961-62.

IceHogs Chirps

• The IceHogs had their four-game winning streak snapped with a 3-1 loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins on Saturday. Things started well with Joey Anderson getting Rockford on the board first, but they could not find the back of the net the rest of the night.

• Rockford will conclude their busy weekend with a road matinee at the Milwaukee Admirals this afternoon.

NHL Chirps

• The Colorado Avalanche will host the Dallas Stars later today, and it will be Mikko Rantanen’s first trip back since being traded in late January. He spoke to the local media for the first time on Saturday and stated that he never wanted to leave. Aarif Dean of Colorado Hockey Now wonders if Rantanen’s legacy should be as complicated as it is today.
• On Saturday, Elliotte Freidman of Sportsnet reported that contract extension talks between the Florida Panthers and Sam Bennett have restarted. He wouldn’t handicap the odds of reaching a new deal, but the Panthers have a good track record of targets within their sights. If Bennett hits the open market on July 1, he will be a target of the Blackhawks.
• Lane Hutson became the second-fastest player to record 50 career assists in Montreal Canadiens history, doing so in just two games more than Vincent Damphousse. He is also the fourth-fastest defenseman in NHL history to hit the 50-assist mark.
• Reminder: The Blackhawks play the Washington Capitals on April 4.