What do Doug Wilson, Bob Probert, Martin Havlat and . . . Spencer Abbott have in common?
All have worn—or will wear—the number 24 sweater for the Chicago Blackhawks. Whether Abbott ends up rivaling any of the above in terms of Hawk history is unlikely. But certainly, the Hawk front office and coaching staff would love for that to happen. Or for someone skating with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa, as Abbott will tonight, to do so.
What we know about Abbott is this—he is small (tiny) but willing. A right-handed shooting left winger who has some skill (mostly setting up). He put up 69 points in 64 games a couple of years ago for the Toronto Marlies.
But at 28, Abbott has played in one prior NHL game in 4 full pro seasons with two organizations. So it seems this is a bit of a long bet by the Hawks but Abbott, by all accounts, has played hard and well in Rockford. And Bob’s your uncle.
BUFFALO SABRES (14-15-8) AT CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (23-12-5) 8:30PM Eastern/7:30 Central NBCSN/CSN Chicago
LIKELY GOALIES: Robin Lehner, Buffalo Corey Crawford, Chicago
STATS:
GOALS FOR/AGAINST Buffalo 2.19/2.62 Chicago 2.68/2.42
POWER PLAY Buffalo 21.5% Chicago 18.5%
PENALTY KILL Buffalo 74.1% Chicago 75.9%
SHOTS FOR/AGAINST Buffalo 29.2/32.4 Chicago 28.8/31.3
NOTES:
If ever there was a game for the Hawks to “get right,… this is it. Rested, healthier (at least) with Marian Hossa returning to the ice and facing a team that really struggles defensively.
The Hawks want to avoid taking any bad penalties as the Sabres are a good man-advantage team.
In addition to the Abbott subtext, keep an eye on rookie Hawk defenseman Michal Kempny, who has been playing better of late. Kempny has fairly high upside and could help the Hawks overall in all situations as he improves.
All for now, I’ll recap tomorrow.
JJ