Morning Chirps: Soderblom Heading to Worlds, Vezina Finalists Revealed

A highly decorated head coach has become available, and the Chicago Blackhawks should be making a sales pitch to bring him in. Plus, it was a busy night for former Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Get all this and more with today’s Morning Chirps.

Blackhawks Chirps

• In case you missed it yesterday, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Mike Sullivan parted ways, which should make him the top candidate in Kyle Davidson’s coaching search.
• Goaltender Arvid Soderblom will join Anders Sorensen on Team Sweden at the IIHF World Championships. He is part of a talented squad that also includes Rasmus Andersson, Alexander Wennberg, William Eklund, and Leo Carlsson.

• This list does not surprise you if you watched more than one Blackhawks game this year.

• Jack Pridham and the Kitchener Rangers are on the brink of elimination. They lost Game 3 of the OHL Western Conference Finals 3-2 to the London Knights. Pridham had four shots on goal in the losing effort. The Rangers will try to keep their season alive when they host Game 4 on Wednesday.
• On this date in 1965, the Blackhawks forced a Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final by beating the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in Game 6. Elmer “Moose” Vasko scored his second career playoff goal, and Doug Mohns had a goal and an assist in the third period to lead the way.
• On April 29, 1971, the Blackhawks beat the New York Rangers 4-2 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals. Bobby Hull scored a goal and had two assists as the Blackhawks advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.
• Two years later, defenseman Pat Stapleton set a team record with three first-period assists in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. Unfortunately, the Canadiens won the game 8-3.
• Happy 37^th Birthday to Jonathan Toews!

NHL Chirps

• The NHL announced the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy, which is given to the best goaltender in the league as voted on by the 32 general managers. Connor Hellebuyck, Darcy Kuemper, and Andrei Vasilevskiy are in the running. Hellebuyck is the likely winner after his incredible regular season.

• The Winnipeg Jets will likely get a boost when they host the St. Louis Blues in Game 5 on Wednesday night. Per head coach Scott Arniel, forward Gabriel Vilardi is expected to make his postseason debut. He scored 27 goals and 61 points before suffering an upper-body injury that has kept him out of action since March 23.
• Staying in Winnipeg, former Blackhawks defenseman Isaak Phillips was one of five “black aces” recalled by the Jets on Monday.
• The Florida Panthers are up 3-1 on the Tampa Bay Lightning after a 4-2 victory in Game 4. This game had it all. Both teams scored goals 11 seconds apart. Brandon Hagel was taken out by a questionable hit from Aaron Ekblad that was not penalized. Niko Mikkola was tossed from the game for boarding Zemgus Girgensons. And to top it all off, former Blackhawk Seth Jones had the game-winning goal. Game 5 will be tomorrow night in Tampa.

• The Dallas Stars grabbed a 3-2 series lead after beating the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 in Game 5. It was a positive night for Dallas as Wyatt Johnson and Mikko Rantanen scored their first goals of the series. The Avalanche will look to force a seventh game when they host Game 6 on Thursday.

• Tonight is another busy night in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with four games. The Toronto Maple Leafs can close out the Ottawa Senators as they host Game 5 of their series at 6 p.m. The Carolina Hurricanes can do the same to the New Jersey Devils, with Game 5 starting at 6:30 p.m. The late games will feature two series tied at 2-2. The Vegas Golden Knights host the Minnesota Wild at 8:30 p.m., and the Los Angeles Kings host the Edmonton Oilers at 9 p.m.