Ed Belfour endured his first National Hockey League loss in Detroit. The Blackhawks’ goalie has been suffering in Joe Louis Arena ever since.
He is 9-12-3 lifetime against the Red Wings and eight of the defeats have come in Detroit, where Belfour and his teammates try to change direction in a game Tuesday night.
Belfour needs to stop a personal slump of 1-4-1 in his last six starts before the All-Star break. He has given up 24 goals in those six games for a very un-Belfourlike goals-against average of 4.39.
On the spot: Waiver-draft pick-up Greg Smyth is likely going to be faced with a physical confrontation at some point Tuesday. How the defenseman reacts is going to determine his future as a Hawk.
“We’ve got to get Greg playing more physical,” coach Darryl Sutter said. “He has to think contact more. It’ll be interesting to see how he does against Detroit. I’m sure a lot of people are saying that.”
The winner is: If you took a poll in the Hawks’ dressing room, the consensus among players is likely to be that St. Louis won its Sunday trade with Quebec. Forget about the minor-leaguer the Blues got. But new Blues defenseman Steve Duchesne, by himself, seems more than a match for the players St. Louis gave the Nordiques-Bob Bassen, Garth Butcher and Ron Sutter.
Hot pairs: Darryl Sutter plans to open up Tuesday’s game with right wing Dirk Graham on the second line with center Christian Ruuttu. The other pairing Sutter has in mind is winger Jocelyn Lemieux with checking-line center Brent Sutter. Graham has usually been on Brent Sutter’s line before this. But nothing is ever carved in stone with Darryl Sutter’s lines and he may mix and match as the game progresses.
In the past: Darryl Sutter usually detests looking back at the past. But he made mention of one historic link he hopes benefits the Hawks.
“The last time we had as big a layoff as the All-Star break was late in the 1991-92 season,” Sutter noted, referring to the players’ strike that delayed the playoffs. “And we had success after that.”
Not right away. The Hawks lost their last two regular-season games after the strike ended, then dropped two of three to the Blues in the playoffs before winning 11 straight to advance to the Stanley Cup finals.