Morning Bag Skate: Blackhawks visit Connor McDavid, Oilers

Thomas Vanek scored two goals and had three assists to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

Nick Schmaltz and Ryan Hartman scored, and Forsberg made 26 saves for the Blackhawks (17-14-5), who have lost three straight after winning the previous five. Chicago completes a back-to-back Friday when it visits the Edmonton Oilers.

In World Juniors action, Chicago prospect Henri Jokiharju was named Finland’s player of the game in a 4-1 win over Denmark on Thursday. The Finnish defenseman had a goal and an assist. Artur Kayumov also tallied Russia’s game-winning goal in a 5-2 victory against Switzerland. Kayumov and Andrei Altybarmakyan and the Russians play Belarus on Friday.

HAWKS

**RECAP: Hawks fall to Canucks, drop 3rd straight (SCH)

**Jokiharju named Finland’s player of the game vs. Denmark at World Juniors (SCH)

**10 Hawks things to watch before All-Star break (SCH)

**Hawks recall Kampf to NHL for 1st time in his career (SCH)

**Taking Hawks GM Bowman back to the place that helped shape him — Notre Dame (Chicago Tribune)

**Finfer: No curse-breaking championships in 2017, but it was the Year of the Trade in Chicago sports (The Athletic)

**One month after dropping puck at Blackhawks game, young cancer patient dies (SCH)

**Bouma and Wingles: From enemies to Hawks (Chicago Tribune)

CENTRAL DIVISION

**Jets’ Scheifele out 6-8 weeks with upper-body injury (Arctic Ice Hockey)

**With Scheifele out, Jets should call up Roslovic or Petan from AHL (Arctic Ice Hockey)

**Armstrong rewarded with four more years as Blues chase 'ultimate prize' (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

**Armstrong's New Year's resolution: better health (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

**Predators want prospect Tolvanen in NHL this season (The Tennessean)

**The Forecheck Podcast: Episode 25 - Top 10 Moments of 2017 (On The Forecheck)

**After 250 days away, Parise's return to game action goes off without a hitch (The Athletic)

**Avs should make push for Arizona’s Duclair (Mile High Hockey)

**Avs' Barrie out 4-6 weeks with fractured hand (The Denver Post)

NHL

**RECAP: Ovechkin, Capitals defeat Bruins for 12th straight time (Japers’ Rink)

**RECAP: Lightning defeat Drouin, Canadiens for eighth straight home win (Raw Charge)

**RECAP: Panthers hold off Flyers, get 4th straight win (NHL.com)

**RECAP: Matthews scores for Maple Leafs against Coyotes in homecoming (Pension Plan Puppets)

**RECAP: Perron lifts Golden Knights past Kings in OT for 6th straight win (Knights On Ice)

**RECAP: Sharks defeat Flames in shootout after Meier's tying goal (Fear The Fin)

**Rangers’ Kreider out indefinitely after blood clot diagnosis (Blueshirt Banter)

**Senators’ Claesson suspended 2 games for hit to head on Bruins’ Acciari (Silver Seven)

**Pittsburgh open to discussing Letang trades, per reports (SBN)

**Penguins won’t get better by trading Letang (Pensburgh)

**NHL's top 17 moments of 2017 (NHL.com)

**10 things to watch before All-Star break (NHL.com)

HOCKEY WORLD

**2018 World Juniors: Schedule, how to watch, scores, results (SCH)

**Pronman: 2018 World Juniors daily scouting journal (The Athletic)

**Watch: USA’s Mittelstadt scores incredible goal at WJC (SBN)