A power performance from a Blackhawks power forward, a breakout game for a Ducks rookie, a top scoring Toronto winger, lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking.
[b]Buy Nike Presto[/b] . HEROES Bryan Bickell – The Blackhawks left winger had a goal and an assist in a 4-2 win over Minnesota Sunday; he has seven points (5 G, 2 A) in the past seven games as he’s taken Kris Versteeg’s spot on the wing with Brad Richards and Patrick Kane. While his offensive production tends to come and go, Bickell has been a steady possession player (56.4% Corsi) over the past three seasons. Rickard Rakell – The 2011 first-round pick has been a bit of an afterthought this season, so it goes for a rookie playing behind Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler on the centre depth chart, but he busted out with two goals and two assists (plus a shootout goal) in Sunday’s 5-4 shootout win against Winnipeg. It snapped Rakell’s six-game point drought and gives him 12 points (3 G, 9 A) in 32 games this season. James van Riemsdyk – The Maple Leafs’ left winger had two goals and an assist, with 11 shot attempts (8 SOG) in Friday’s 5-2 win over Columbus. In the past 16 games, van Riemsdyk has 19 points (9 G, 10 A) and, with 40 points in 42 games, is scoring at career-high rates (0.45 goals and 0.95 points per game). ZEROES Ryan O’Reilly – The usually reliable Avalanche centre had a rough game against Dallas Saturday, failing to register a shot attempt and getting crushed in possession (5 shot attempts for, 27 against, 15.6%) Paul Gaustad – The Predators checking centre is used more in the defensive zone, but he could barely get out in Saturday’s win over Minnesota, on for one shot attempt for and 13 against (7.1%). Goalies: Antti Raanta – Chicago’s goaltender allowed four goals on 21 shots at Edmonton Friday, the first time all season that he allowed more than three goals against. Brian Elliott – Pulled from the St. Louis net after surrendering three goals on 10 shots against Carolina Saturday. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Jets getting healthy – Defencemen Tobias Enstrom, Mark Stuart and Zach Bogosian and left winger Evander Kane have all returned to the Winnipeg lineup. Suddenly, there’s no room for Adam Pardy and Paul Postma in the regular lineup, but it’s a credit to the Jets that they were able to withstand such a bad run of injuries. Incidentally, rookie Ben Chiarot played 24:00 at Los Angeles Saturday and 22:39 at Anaheim Sunday, his two highest ice times of the season, so he’s not getting phased out despite these returns. Joe Thornton – Returned to the San Jose lineup Saturday, after missing nine days, and was on for all three goals against in a 3-1 loss to the Rangers. Tanner Pearson – The Kings’ rookie winger suffered a broken leg Saturday. He had two points (1 G, 1 A) in his past 13 games. Tyler Toffoli – The Kings’ winger is out indefinitely with mono; he had four points (2 G, 2 a) in his last 11 games. With Pearson and Toffoli out, there is room for Mike Richards, who appeared to be on his way to being a healthy scratch, to stay in the lineup. Mikhail Grabovski – Started Friday night’s game on a line with John Tavares and Kyle Okposo, but then had to leave the game early with a lower-body injury. Josh Bailey returned to that coveted spot in the lineup Saturday at Columbus. Erik Gudbranson – Played a season-high 25:12 for the Panthers, including 6:25 shorthanded, at Calgary Friday. It was his first game this season over 22 minutes and the second-most ice time he’s had in an NHL game. Steve Mason – The Flyers’ goalkeeper left early in Saturday’s loss to Boston with a lower-body injury. Ray Emery, with a career-low .889 save percentage after stopping 10 of 13 shots in relief of Mason, will likely see more action while Mason is out and 33-year-old Rob Zepp has been recalled from the AHL, where he had a .921 save percentage in 21 games. Jimmy Howard – Detroit’s goaltender suffered a lower-body injury against Washington Saturday, giving way to Petr Mrazek less than two minutes into the game. With Jonas Gustavsson already out of action, Mrazek will see most of the action in the Red Wings’ net and Thomas McCollum has been called up from Grand Rapids, where he had a .911 save percentage in 21 games. Brett Ritchie – The Stars rookie played a season-high 19:58 at Colorado Saturday, scoring his third goal in his sixth career NHL game. Sergei Gonchar – Played a season-high 23:58 for Montreal against Pittsburgh Saturday. Frank Corrado – The 2011 fifth-round pick got into his first game of the season for the Canucks Saturday against Calgary. The 21-year-old blueliner had played 18 NHL games over the past two seasons and had eight points (4 G, 4 A) with a plus-3 rating in 21 AHL games this season. Troy Bodie – The 29-year-old tough winger played his first game of the season for the Maple Leafs in Friday’s 5-2 win over Columbus. He had seven points (5 G, 2 A) and 34 penalty minutes, with a minus-2 rating, in 32 AHL games before getting promoted. SHORT SHIFTS Islanders C John Tavares had two goals and an assist in a 3-2 overtime win at New Jersey Friday. He has 12 points (7 G, 5 A) in the past 10 games…Blue Jackets C Ryan Johansen scored a pair of goals in Friday’s 5-2 loss at Toronto, then added an assist in Saturdays’ loss to the Islanders, running his point streak (6 G, 6 A) to 10 games…Panthers LW Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist in Friday’s 6-5 win at Calgary; he has nine points (4 G, 5 A) in the past eight games…Flames C Mikael Backlund picked up a goal and an assist in a 6-5 loss to Florida Friday, then added the Flames’ only goal in a 1-0 win over Vancouver Saturday, and has five points (3 G, 2 A) in his past three games…Flames LW Lance Bouma had three assists in the loss to Florida; he had four assists in the previous 39 games… Oilers LW Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist in a 5-2 win over Chicago Friday, then added an assist in a 4-2 loss to Florida Sunday, and has 10 points (3 G, 7 A) in the past 10 games…Penguins C Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist in Pittsburgh’s 2-1 overtime win at Montreal Saturday, lifting him to third in the league scoring race with 47 points (19 G, 28 A) in 41 games…Predators LW Colin Wilson recorded a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Minnesota. Wilson has 13 points (6 G, 7 A) in the past 10 games…Avalanche C Matt Duchene picked up a goal and an assist in a 4-3 win over Dallas Saturday; he has five points (1 G, 4 A) in the past five games…Islanders RW Ryan Strome had a pair of assists in a 5-2 win at Columbus Saturday, and has nine points (1 G, 8 A) in the past seven games…Blues C David Backes recorded two assists against Carolina Saturday, giving him 11 points (5 G, 6 A) in the past six games. Jets C Mathieu Perreault recorded a goal and an assist in a 5-4 shootout win at Los Angeles Saturday, and has 17 points (9 G, 8 A) in the past 17 games…Jets RW Blake Wheeler contributed a goal and an assist in the win and has nine points (3 G, 6 A) in the past eight games…Kings D Drew Doughty had a pair of assists in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Jets, giving him 13 points (2 G, 11 A) in the past 14 games…Kings LW Marian Gaborik chipped in a goal and an assist, and has 14 points (9 G, 5 A) in his past 11 games…Kings C Anze Kopitar also had a goal and an assist; he has 19 points (3 G, 16 A) in the past 11 games…Ducks LW Kyle Palmieri recorded a goal and an assist Sunday against Winnipeg, and has nine points (4 G, 5 A) in the past 10 games…Blackhawks RW Marian Hossa had a pair of assists in Friday’s 5-2 loss at Edmonton, then had a goal and an assist against Minnesota Sunday, and has 10 points (3 G, 7 A) in his past nine games…Blackhawks C Jonathan Toews had a couple of assists Friday, then two more Sunday, giving him 15 points (2 G, 13 A) in his past 13 games…Blackhawks RW Patrick Kane had a pair of assists in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Minnesota and has 29 points (12 G, 17 A) in his past 22 games. In Friday’s 2-1 win over Buffalo, Tampa Bay D Matt Carle had a monster possession game (31 shot attempts for, 3 against, 91.2%) against the Sabres. When he was on the ice at 5-on-5 against Sabres defencemen Josh Gorges and Tyler Myers, Carle was a perfect 100% (18 for, 0 against)…Panthers LW Sean Bergenheim had strong possession stats (17 shot attempts for, 3 against, 85.0%) in Friday’s win at Calgary. Bergenheim is a quietly strong possession player, who also has seven points (2 G, 5 A) in the past nine games. Among forwards that have played 100-400 minutes – trying to find quality contributions from complementary players – at 5-on-5 this season: DEPTH CONTRIBUTIONS PLAYER TEAM POS. CORSI% RELATIVE CORSI% Trevor Lewis Los Angeles RW 60.2% +7.1% Tomas Jurco Detroit RW 59.0% +5.3% Patrick Sharp Chicago LW 58.6% +4.9% Stephen Weiss Detroit C 58.2% +3.8% Sean Bergenheim Florida LW 57.6% +7.6% Flyers D Mark Streit delivered strong possession numbers (21 shot attempts for, 3 against, 87.5%) in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Boston…Red Wings C Stephen Weiss had perfect possession (14 shot attempts for, 0 against, 100.0%), despite starting only one-third of his shifts in the offensive zone against Washington Saturday. Sabres G Michal Neuvirth stopped 45 of 47 shots in a 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay Friday…Canadiens G Carey Price turned aside 35 of 37 shots in a 2-1 loss to Pittsburgh Saturday…Penguins G Marc-Andre Fleury had 27 saves on 28 shots for the win…Predators G Pekka Rinne stopped 36 of 37 shots in a 3-1 win at Minnesota Saturday…Senators G Craig Anderson turned away 31 of 32 shots in a 5-1 win over Arizona Saturday…Capitals G Braden Holtby had 26 saves on 27 shots in a 3-1 win over Detroit Saturday…Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist stopped 30 of 31 shots in a 3-1 win at San Jose Saturday…Blackhawks G Corey Crawford stopped 36 of 37 shots in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Minnesota…Panthers G Al Montoya allowed five goals on 30 shots and Flames G Jonas Hiller surrendered six goals on 35 shots in Florida’s 6-5 win Friday…Coyotes G Mike Smith gave up five goals on 33 shots in Saturday’s 5-1 loss to Ottawa. FIRSTS David Pastrnak – Boston’s rookie right winger scored the first two goals of his career in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Philadelphia. 18-year-old Pastrnak has been impressive early in his career, posting 59.7% Corsi in his first seven games. Teemu Pulkkinen – Injuries opened up room in Detroit for Pulkkinen, a right winger who made his season debut for the Wings against Washington Saturday, registering a team-high eight shot attempts (3 SOG) with spectacular possession numbers (29 shot attempts for, 4 against, 87.9%) in 16:21 of ice time, skating on a line with Riley Sheahan and Drew Miller. Pulkkinen, a fourth-round pick in the 2010 Draft, was tearing up the AHL this season with 39 points (20 G, 19 A), 125 shots on goal and a minus-1 rating in 33 games. Joni Ortio – The 23-year-old, summoned in the wake of Karri Ramo’s injury, recorded his first career shutout, stopping all 36 shots he faced, in a 1-0 win at Vancouver Saturday. Ortio, a sixth-round pick in 2009, had a .916 save percentage in 27 games with Adirondack in the AHL. FLAMES-PANTHERS TRADE Drew Shore – A 6-foot-3 centre, who was a second-round pick in 2009, had been unable to stick in Florida, despite stellar possession stats when given the opportunity. 23-year-old Shore has been productive enough in the AHL (9 G, 21 A, 88 SOG, even in 35 games) this season to warrant an NHL opportunity. After one more NHL game, he will require waivers to be sent back to the AHL, so whenever Calgary does give Shore the opportunity, he should get a solid run of games to prove he deserves to stay in the league. Corban Knight – Originally a fifth-round pick of the Panthers in 2009, Knight didn’t sign with Florida coming out of the University of North Dakota, signing with Calgary as a free agent. Knight had 12 points (8 G, 4 A) and 51 shots on goal, with a minus-1 rating, in 22 AHL games at the time of the trade, and has one goal in nine career NHL games. He’s fourth months older than Shore, but with less pro experience can be moved up and down in the organization with fewer restrictions. FANTASY FOCUS There are three games on the schedule to start the week. Here are three wingers that you might want to consider for your lineup: Jonathan Drouin – The Lightning rookie has just two goals in 33 games, but has assists in each of the past three games, skating on a line with Alex Killorn and (more importantly) Steven Stamkos. Andre Burakovsky – You never know how long it will last, but the Capitals’ rookie winger has been skating with Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin on Washington’s top line. Dwight King – The L.A. winger has three goals in the past four games and, with Pearson and Toffoli out, there is more ice time available if King manages to maintain production. Much of the data included comes from
www.war-on-ice.com,
www.puckalytics.com,
www.hockeystats.ca and
www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at
scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca [b]Cheap Nike Dunk High[/b]. "Weve given ourselves now a tougher task," said Carlyle after the Friday practice, the Toronto head coach notably chipper and upbeat throughout. "But the bottom line is we just have to win our share of games [and] not worry about what anybody else is doing.
[b]Cheap Nike Sb Dunk[/b] . "Its way better than running gassers, thats for sure," the inside linebacker said Monday, when the Chargers started their third and final week of organized team activities, which are practices in shorts, jerseys and helmets.LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Every shot Kansas put up seemed to clank off the rim. Every one that San Diego State missed seemed to end up back in its hands, there for an easy layup or wide open dunk. You would have thought it was the Jayhawks who were playing on the road. Instead, the 21st-ranked Aztecs persevered down the stretch behind 16 points from Xavier Thames, whose four free throws in the closing seconds Sunday sealed a 61-57 victory over No. 16 Kansas, ending the Jayhawks 68-game non-conference winning streak at Allen Fieldhouse. "The way I see it, we got exactly what we deserved. They were better than us," said Kansas coach Bill Self, who had more Big 12 titles (nine straight) on his resume coming into the game than he had losses (eight overall) at the Jayhawks venerable on-campus arena. "This is a hard place to win," Self said. "They made us play poorly." Still, Kansas (9-4) had a chance to tie the game when Perry Ellis went to the free throw line with 11.9 seconds left. He made his first free throw but, after San Diego State (12-1) called time out to ice him, Ellis missed the second and the Jayhawks were forced to foul. Thames made both free throws to give San Diego State a three-point lead, and the Aztecs fouled rather than allow Kansas to attempt a tying 3. Frank Mason missed the first and made the second, and Thames made two more free throws with 4.6 seconds left to seal the win. "We all missed shots we usually make," said freshman Andrew Wiggins, who had 14 points for the Jayhawks, "and thats going to happen from time to time with a young team." Mason also finished with 14 points, and Joel Embiid had 12 points and 12 rebounds for Kansas, which had won 112 of its last 114 games at Allen Fieldhouse. "Every play we made, it seemed like they came down, they got something positive out of the next possession," Mason said. "We just couldnt get the stops we needed." Skylar Spencer finished with 13 points and Josh Davis had 10 for the Aztecs, who have won 11 straight since losing to No. 1 Arizona on Nov. 14. That streak is tied for the second-best in school history and traiils only the 20-0 start of the 2010-11 team.
[b]Cheap Authentic Nike Foamposite[/b]. The Jayhawks struggled against the long, lanky Aztecs right from the start, missing eight of their first nine shots and allowing San Diego State to dictate the tempo. After a 3-pointer by Naadir Tharpe gave Kansas a 9-8 lead, the Jayhawks had just one more field goal over the next 8-plus minutes. Thames and Davis had no such trouble for San Diego State, hitting a series of jumpers and contested layups as the Aztecs built a 29-23 halftime lead. Kansas wound up shooting 20.7 per cent (6 of 29) in the first half. "They missed some shots," San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said, "but we didnt give them a lot of shots from the sweet spots, where they wanted them." The Aztecs kept up the intensity in the second half, forcing the Jayhawks to misfire on eight of their first 10 shots with their in-your-face, man-to-man defence. The lead slowly grew to 44-33 when JJ OBrien converted after two misses, once more silencing a packed crowd at the Phog. The Jayhawks finally started to build some momentum midway through the second half, closing within 58-56 on a basket by Wiggins and 50-48 on Tharpes scooping layup. It seemed as if every time Kansas went on a run, though, the Aztecs had an answer. Spencer scored after Tharpes basket, and Thames curled in a 3-pointer to give San Diego State a 55-48 lead with 3 minutes to play. Kansas made one more salvo, getting within 57-55 on a 3-pointer by Mason and seemingly getting the ball back after OBrien missed a free throw. During a stoppage in play, the officials determined that the ball went off Kansas with 44.8 seconds left. And even though the Jayhawks got a stop, it cost them precious time. Self called a timeout with 20 seconds left and decided to go with Ellis, the sure-handed sophomore. He drove to the basket and was fouled, but the 72 per cent free throw shooter could only make the first of his two attempts, and San Diego State eventually held on to win. "This is a great win for us," Thames said. "A lot of teams dont come in here and get victories. Im just blessed to be a part of this one."
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