Sopel carries Canucks past Preds
Canadian Press
1/26/2004
VANCOUVER (CP) - It's been a long time since Brent Sopel heard fans chanting his name, especially in an NHL rink.
Sopel scored two goals and assisted on a third Sunday night as Vancouver overwhelmed the Nashville Predators 4-1 in a game where Canucks all-star defenceman Ed Jovanovski was lost to a shoulder injury.
But Sopel, who was on the ice for all four Vancouver goals, was happier about his defensive play.
``It's not really something I think about,'' Sopel said of his goal production. ``I just want to go out and be the best player I can be and help this team win.''
Sopel has become the Canucks' leading scorer from the blue-line this season and now has six goals, one less than he had last year.
He struggled early in the year with turnovers but improved dramatically in January and now has a plus-14 rating compared to a minus-15 rating last season, the only Canuck in the minus category.
``It's my defence play, obviously,'' Sopel said when asked what area of his game had improved the most.
``When I get thrown out there pretty much every night against the top line, it's our job to shut them down so that's a big stat for the two of us (himself and partner Mattias Ohlund).''
The Canucks' blue-line, however, will be thinner without Jovanovski, who crashed into the end boards as he took Mike Keane's return pass on a 2-on-1 break during a first period penalty kill.
Martin Erat tied up Jovanovski who injured his right shoulder on the play.
``He'll be out with a sprained shoulder,'' said Vancouver coach Marc Crawford. ``We'll know more (Monday).''
Crawford could not say how many games Jovanovski will miss but the Canucks planned to call up another defenceman from the AHL Manitoba Moose for Tuesday's game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Canucks broke the game open in the second period with three unanswered power-play goals.
Sopel started the period with his second one-time shot past Nashville goalie Chris Mason. Henrik Sedin swept the puck in during a goalmouth scramble and Todd Bertuzzi got his third goal in two games by deflecting a Markus Naslund wrist shot.
Rookie Jordin Tootoo ended the shutout bid by Vancouver goalie Dan Cloutier at 12:02 of the third period.
It was the first time since Nov. 20 that the Canucks won two consecutive home games and it was also Vancouver's first win in regulation time since Nov. 8 at GM Place. They were 5-7-4 at home from then until Sunday with all five wins coming in overtime.
``I thought it was definitely a step in the right direction,'' Naslund, who had three assists, said of the victory that didn't require overtime.
``I think we showed tonight that we can make nice plays and play with confidence.''
The Predators (24-18-6-1), who are making a run for a playoff berth, lost for the second time playing three games in four nights in Western Canada.
``We wanted to come out with a lot of intensity and unfortunately we ran into some penalty problems and they capitalized,'' said Tootoo. ``We're mentally tough and we just wanted to take it one shift at a time. They have a big line when they're on the power play and they capitalized on their chances.''
Mason said he'd heard the Canucks were struggling with the NHL's 20th-ranked power play but Bertuzzi made it work Sunday.
``They were moving the puck around tonight and you get Bertuzzi in front and he's pretty tough to see around,'' said Mason.
Sopel said the Canucks played an uptempo game as they outshot Nashville 28-8 over two periods.
``We kept our tempo, we got pucks deep and our forwards created a lot of chances,'' Sopel said. ``We got a lot of penalties off that. They couldn't keep up and we kept throwing pucks at the net.''
NOTES: Forwards Artem Chubarov (groin) and Magnus Arvedson (back) returned to the Vancouver lineup after missing five and seven games, respectively ... Nashville concludes its four-game road trip Thursday at Columbus ... The Canucks' five-game homestand ends Tuesday.
Cheers,
Aquaman