As far as National Hockey League schedule-maker Phil Scheuer can remember, there is no precedent for what is happening this week between San Jose and the Blackhawks.
Tuesday night’s game in Sacramento marked the first of three straight for the Sharks in which the Hawks will be their opponent. The Hawks interrupt the string by playing Los Angeles on Wednesday before traveling to San Jose for games Friday night and Sunday afternoon.
“I don’t remember it ever happening before,” Scheuer said. “Teams have played back-to-back against each other several times, but I can’t think of a time when a team has played three games in a row against the same opponent.”
Tuesday’s neutral-site game at Arco Arena, where the NBA Kings play, was added after the regular schedule was made up. “We didn’t have a lot of available dates in Sacramento,” Scheuer said.
“After the second game, everybody is going to have everybody else figured out,” Sharks defenseman Jeff Norton said. “By the third night, we’re really going to be inside each other’s shirts.”
Welcome back: There may have been doubts about Greg Smyth when the Hawks claimed him last month from Toronto on the waiver wire. But he has impressed coach Darryl Sutter with his gameness.
Even Smyth’s absorbing a hard punch from the Mighty Ducks’ Stu Grimson last Sunday didn’t detract from Sutter’s admiration. “Smyth played well,” he said of the defenseman’s return after missing four games with strained rib muscles from a fight against Detroit’s Bob Probert. “The fight with Stu tells you he’s ready to go again.”
Same old story: Jimmy Waite has fared no better as Arturs Irbe’s backup in San Jose than he did as Ed Belfour’s in Chicago. When Waite started and won Sunday, it ended a streak of 17 consecutive starts for Irbe. But Irbe returned to start Tuesday night.