Not by choice, but Jean-Pierre Dumont seems to have the market cornered on slow starts.
There was the one early Thursday, when the rookie winger made like a sputtering car and limped around the United Center after taking a puck in the back of the leg at the morning skate.
And then there is the more troubling one, the one that has the player many mentioned as a Calder Trophy favorite with just one goal in 10 games. Dumont missed on an easy chance in the first period against Buffalo, too, when he couldn’t corral a pass from Steve Sullivan on a power-play opportunity and failed to get off a shot.
“I’ve had opportunities, but I have to shoot more,” Dumont said. “A couple of times, I was near the net, but I tried to make too fine a pass.”
Dumont is trying to draw on past experience to stay on an even keel. Last season, before being called up to the Hawks, he failed to score in the first 11 games for Portland (Maine) of the American Hockey League. He had 32 in the final 39 games.
“The same thing happened to me in juniors; I would always get off to a slow start,” Dumont said. “I don’t know why. It’s weird.”
Dumont scored nine goals in 25 games with the Hawks last season and seemed to be picking up where he left off by scoring a team-high four goals during the preseason. But he had managed just 18 shots entering Thursday.
“We need more goal production,” Hawks coach Lorne Molleken said. “We need more from our skill players. We’re getting opportunities. It’s a matter of bearing down and putting the puck home.”
Tune in: Backup goalie Steve Passmore, one of the more colorful players on the Hawks, wore a microphone on the bench during the first period of Thursday’s ESPN2 telecast.
“I just hope I don’t use many bad words,” joked Passmore.
The cable network precluded that possibility by running only taped versions of Passmore’s banter–until he replaced Jocelyn Thibault late in the first period. In the first 90 seconds of the second period, Passmore stopped Michal Grosek on a breakaway.
Lineup card: Doug Zmolek returned to skate in a pairing with Brad Brown after missing four games with a strained groin, and Dave Manson took his place on the injured list with a bruised right foot.
Down on the farm: Cleveland winger Nathan Perrott, who impressed many at training camp, underwent knee surgery last Friday in Chicago. He is expected to return to the Lumberjacks’ lineup in three weeks.
Meanwhile, goalie prospect Michel Larocque, who had been practicing with the Hawks, was assigned to Greensboro of the East Coast Hockey League.
A tribute: The Hawks honored Walter Payton with a scoreboard tribute during the game’s first timeout. The crowd responded with a standing ovation and players from both teams tapped the ice with their sticks for applause.
