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Blackhawks play Pirri, give Handzus ‘rest’

pirrigetty

The Chicago Blackhawks revealed why they recalled Brandon Pirri on Saturday, as he’ll spell Michal Handzus against the woeful Buffalo Sabres tonight.

There’s some excitement in the Blackhawks fan base about the young forward.

Pirri, 22, expected to make the team out of training camp but was a surprise cut. Even so, he provided the Chicago Sun-Times with the sort of quote that makes you think Handzus has been whispering in his ear.

“As a 19-year-old, it’s sexy to put up a lot of points,” Pirri said. “As an older guy, you kind of realize that offense comes from good defense. That’s something that I focused on and it’s shown in my numbers.”

(Cue audience snickering at an “older guy” being 22 ...)

Head coach Joel Quenneville said that Handzus isn’t injured, he’s just getting rest on a back-to-back, although the feeling is that it wasn’t that short of a scratch, either.

The battle between Chicago’s AHL/NHL tweeners could be interesting to follow this season, as Quenneville called the trio of Pirri, Jimmy Hayes and Jeremy Morin “comparable.”

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins