The Blackhawks’ strong start comes as no surprise to San Jose coach Darryl Sutter.
“They have more talent than most teams in the league,” the brother of Hawks coach Brian Sutter said before Sunday night’s game. “It was just a case of getting them to do it together.
“They also added some good people-[Jon] Klemm, [Phil] Housley and Stumpy [Steve Thomas]. Those guys make a difference-a huge difference.”
Marchment missing: San Jose defenseman Bryan Marchment began his six-game suspension Sunday. The former Hawk was suspended without pay for elbowing Carolina’s Shane Willis in the head during Friday night’s game. He received a major penalty and a game misconduct for the infraction.
His lost pay as a result of the suspension totals $168,292.68.
New pairings: With Alexander Karpovtsev sidelined with a strained left knee, Sutter juggled the Hawks’ pairings on defense.
Chris McAlpine became Klemm’s new partner and Steve Poapst, who hadn’t dressed for five games, went to work with Jaroslav Spacek.
Rheaume plays: Fourth-line center Pascal Rheaume was in the Hawks’ lineup after escaping with a bruise and a gash that required five stitches when he was struck by a puck deflected by Boris Mironov during Saturday’s practice.
As a precaution, the Hawks recalled center Peter White from their Norfolk farm team, but he didn’t dress. White is leading the American Hockey League team in scoring with 13 points on three goals and 10 assists.
Passmore produces: Goalie Steve Passmore, who strained his left knee when he made his only start of the season Nov. 2 in Anaheim, won both of his games during his weekend stint with Norfolk. He was a 5-2 winner Saturday in Syracuse and a 4-3 winner Sunday in Wilkes-Barre.
He stopped 29 shots in the first game and had 36 saves in the second.
Passmore is scheduled to rejoin the Hawks for their six-game trip, which will begin Tuesday night in Vancouver.
Road warriors: The Hawks will make only two more appearances at the United Center this month-Nov. 28 against Vancouver and Nov. 30 against Toronto.
Deja vu: Darryl Sutter, who coached the Hawks from 1992-95, was joined behind the San Jose bench by two other former Hawks coaches, assistants Lorne Molleken and Rich Preston. Molleken became the Hawks’ head coach after Dirk Graham was fired late in the 1998-99 season and held the job until December 2000.
