NHL Notes : Courtnall Turns His Attention to Offense

Prior to this season, Geoff Courtnall, the Washington Capitals’ hard-hitting, high-scoring left wing was mainly used as a checker and a guy who would give up his body to go into the boards and create havoc with opposing players. If he scored, all well and good, but his main job was disturbing the other team’s attack.

This year all of that has changed and Courtnall is the leading scorer on the Capitals and one of the driving offensive forces in the team’s surge for first place in the Patrick Division of the National Hockey League.

“My job in the past was to go after the other guy,” said Courtnall, who has 19 goals and 19 assists entering Tuesday night’s game at the Capital Centre at Landover, Md., against the Philadelphia Flyers. “My concern was not scoring, but stirring things up. I like it much better this year. I like being involved in the scoring. I always had a good shot and I always believed I could score, but that wasn’t my primary role. I did what I was supposed to do.”

In his previous five seasons with the Boston Bruins, Courtnall, 6-feet-1, 195-pound, a native of Victoria, British Columbia, scored 82 goals and handed out 85 assists in 271 games. Last season, one which he split between Boston and Edmonton, was his best scoring year with 36 goals and 30 assists. Barring serious injury, he should easily surpass both figures this season.

The Capitals acquired Courtnall, 26, from Edmonton for Greg Adams last July.

“Geoff Courtnall has added a new dimension to our power play and has been our most consistent scorer,” said Capitals Coach Bryan Murray. “He is a very aware hockey player. He sees so much of the ice. Not only is he a very adept passer, but he has a tremendous shot. He really has a gun as he has demonstrated on many occasions this season. He has been a very welcome addition to our hockey club.”

Courtnall, whose twin brother Russ plays for the Montreal Canadiens, leads the Capitals in home scoring with 12 goals and 10 assists and had the second longest scoring streak in team history when he scored in 15 consecutive games earlier this season. He leads the team in shots with 120 and collected his 200th National Hockey League point Dec. 7 against the New Jersey Devils. He also has nine power-play goals.

Murray, in his eighth season with Washington, achieved his 300th NHL coaching victory Dec. 15. He has coached 581 games and is tied with Tommy Ivan for 16th on the all-time victory list. Ivan coached Detroit and Chicago from 1947 until 1958.

Voting for the teams that will compete in the 40th NHL All-Star game Feb. 7 in Edmonton, Alberta, will end Sunday. Voting began in November.

The Wales conference All-Stars will be coached by Terry O’Reilly of the Boston Bruins and the Campbell conference team will be coached by Glen Sather of the Edmonton Oilers. Norm Ullman and Bruce MacGregor, both former NHL players, have been named honorary captains for the game.

Hartford wing Sylvain Turgeon underwent surgery on a separated left shoulder Thursday and will be sidelined for three months. The Whalers recalled Dallas Gaume from Binghamton of the American Hockey League to replace him.

Where are they now? Reggie Leach, who scored the most goals in a season (61 in 1976) for the Philadelphia Flyers and played 13 seasons with the Flyers, Boston, California and Detroit. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1976 when the Flyers won the Stanley Cup by beating Montreal, 4-0. He scored 666 points in 934 games, including 381 goals. Leach owns Sports Lawn Service in New Jersey.

Hockey fans in Pittsburgh have missed Wayne Gretzky two years in a row. Last season, when he was with Edmonton, he missed the Oilers’ only game in Pittsburgh because of an injury, and this season he missed the Kings’ only game in Pittsburgh because of his grandmother’s funeral. Gretzky said that his grandmother, Mary Gretzky, used to sit in a chair and play goalie for him when he practiced his shooting.

Petr Klima of the Detroit Red Wings has been going through some highs and lows lately. Last week, he went to the airport to meet his parents, Josef and Kveta Klima, for a reunion. He had not seen them since he defected from Czechoslovakia in August 1985. The next day, he was in court, pleading guilty to a drunken driving charge and leaving an accident scene. It was his second conviction.