Stepan surging, Gaudreau continues to find the net and the Blue Jackets getting offence from a waiver pickup; lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Derek Stepan – The Rangers pivot scored all three goals in a 3-1 win over New Jersey, New Yorks eighth straight win. After fracturing his fibula in the preseason led to a slow start to the year, Stepan has eight points (4 G, 4 A) during a five-game point streak. Somewhat of a concern is that Stepan has been a puck possession disaster this year, pulling a 44.1% Corsi after back-to-back seasons north of 53%. Johnny Gaudreau – The Flames rookie buried a couple of goals in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Edmonton and has 14 points (9 G, 5 A) in the past 13 games. He’s up to 29 points on the season and is second in the rookie scoring race behind Nashville’s Filip Forsberg. ROOKIE SCORING LEADERS ROOKIE TEAM POS GP G A PTS Filip Forsberg Nashville LW 34 14 20 34 Johnny Gaudreau Calgary LW 36 12 17 29 Aaron Ekblad Florida D 33 5 14 19 Mike Hoffman Ottawa LW 32 11 6 17 Mark Stone Ottawa RW 32 8 8 16 Kevin Connauton – The Columbus blueliner, acquired on waivers from Dallas, had a goal and two assists against Boston Saturday, and suddenly has seven points (4 G, 3 A) in the past eight games. He’s been paired with James Wisniewski on the Blue Jackets’ most offensively-inclined pairing. ZEROES Brad Stuart – It’s not easy to be a defensive defenceman on a team that is consistently overwhelmed in shot differential, but the veteran Avs blueliner took it on the proverbial chin against Chicago Saturday (3 shot attempts for, 25 against, 10.7%). It’s been ugly for Stuart this year, as his 37.4% Corsi leaves him as the worst non-Buffalo defenceman in those terms and his relative Corsi (-9.1%) is challenging Dallas’ Trevor Daley for worst in the league among blueliners. Among defencemen with at least 250 5-on-5 minutes: LOSING THE POSSESSION BATTLE DEFENCEMAN TEAM CORSI% Tyler Myers Buffalo 35.6% Josh Gorges Buffalo 36.2% Andre Benoit Buffalo 36.8% Rasmus Ristolainen Buffalo 37.2% Brad Stuart Colorado 37.4% Tyson Strachan Buffalo 37.9% Mike Weber Buffalo 39.2% Nikita Zadorov Buffalo 39.3% Andrej Meszaros Buffalo 39.4% Nate Guenin Colorado 39.9% Franson & Phaneuf – Toronto’s top defensive pair were on the ice for three even-strength goals against in Sunday’s 6-4 loss to Florida. That hasn’t been typical, as they have been on the plus side of the goals-for, goals-against ledger this season, but these are the risks when getting consistently outshot. Viktor Fasth – Gave up three goals on six shots against Calgary Saturday. He has a career-low .881 save percentage in 15 games this season, thanks to an abysmal 832 save percentage in five games this month. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Jordan Staal – The Carolina centre is set to play his first game of the season Monday, after missing 35 games due to a broken leg suffered in the preseason. Patric Hornqvist – The Penguins’ winger is expected to be out of the lineup for a few weeks with a lower-body injury. With Hornqvist sidelined, both Bryan Rust and Jayson Megna skated in top-six forward roles for Pittsburgh Saturday against Washington. Jonathan Drouin – An undisclosed illness has put the Lightning rookie on the shelf, so Steven Stamkos played with Cedric Paquette and Brett Connolly Saturday. Jason Garrison – The Tampa Bay blueliner has been out with injury, presenting an opportunity for Mark Barberio to play more regularly for the Lightning. Cam Atkinson – The Blue Jackets winger was injured early against Boston Saturday, leaving with an upper-body injury. Richard Panik – The Maple Leafs winger was given a good opportunity, skating with Peter Holland and David Clarkson against Florida Sunday, but ended up leaving early with a suspected concussion. Mikael Granlund – The Wild centre had a goal and an assist before getting crunched by Jets D Dustin Byfuglien Saturday and he’s been placed on IR with an upper-body injury. Michael Ryder – New Jersey’s veteran winger is the latest to be hit by mumps and hits the IR on a 21-game goalless drought. Peter Harrold – Played a season-high 22:40 in Saturday’s 3-1 loss at the Rangers, the Devils’ first game since Peter DeBoer was relieved of his head coaching duties. Oh, and he was crushed in puck possession (6 shot attempts for, 22 against, 21.4%) in the process. John Curry – Pressed into action with Niklas Backstrom on IR and Darcy Kuemper dealing with food poisoning, the 30-year-old Curry got into his seventh career NHL game, allowing four goals on 23 shots against Winnipeg Saturday. SHORT SHIFTS Predators C Mike Fisher continued his strong play, with a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Philadelphia; he has seven points (4 G, 3 A) in the past seven games…Predators LW Filip Forsberg recorded a goal and an assist, with nine shot attempts (7 SOG), in the win over Philadelphia, giving him 11 points (4 G, 7 A) in the past 10 games…Predators LW Colin Wilson scored a pair of goals against Philadelphia and has five points (4 G, 1 A) in the past three games. Wilson is also having a stellar season in terms of possession. Among forwards with at least 350 5-on-5 minutes, only Tomas Tatar, Joe Thornton and Patrice Bergeron are faring better than Wilson’s 58.6% Corsi…Blackhawks RW Patrick Kane picked up a pair of goals and an assist in Saturday’s 5-2 win at Colorado; he has 21 points (10 G, 11 A) in the past 15 games…Kings C Anze Kopitar had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 3-1 win vs. San Jose; he has 12 points (2 G, 10 A) during a five-game point streak…Maple Leafs LW James van Riemsdyk contributed a goal and an assist in Sunday’s 6-4 loss at Florida; he has 17 points (7 G, 10 A) in his past 14 games…Ducks C Ryan Getzlaf had a pair of assists in Sunday’s 2-1 overtime win against Vancouver, giving him 23 points (6 G, 17 A) in the past 14 games. Blue Jackets LW Matt Calvert had a goal and an assist vs. Boston Saturday, giving him four points (1 G, 3 A) in the past four games…Blue Jackets LW Scott Hartnell scored a pair of goals against Boston and has five points (3 G, 2 A) in the past five games…Blue Jackets D Jack Johnson recorded two assists in the win over Boston; he has eight points (2 G, 6 A) in the past nine games…Sabres LW Nicolas Deslauriers played a career-high 17:51 and recorded a goal and an assist in Buffalo’s 4-3 shootout win vs. the Islanders Saturday…Jets LW Andrew Ladd had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 4-3 overtime win at Minnesota; he has 11 points (4 G, 7 A) in the past 10 games…Jets C Bryan Little also had a goal and an assist at Minnesota, and now has 10 points (6 G, 4 A) in the past 10 games…Wild RW Jason Pominville had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 4-3 overtime loss to Winnipeg. In the past dozen games, Pominville has put up 13 points (4 G, 9 A)…Capitals RW Eric Fehr scored a pair of goals in a 3-0 win at Pittsburgh Saturday, giving him nine points (6 G, 3 A) in the past dozen games. Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin recorded 18 shot attempts (10 SOG) in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Pittsburgh…Senators D Erik Karlsson had 15 shot attempts (6 SOG) in Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss to Detroit…Hurricanes C Jay McClement was buried in the defensive zone (3 shot attempts for, 22 against, 12.0%) in Saturday’s 2-1 loss at Tampa Bay…In Saturday’s 3-1 win over New Jersey, the Rangers’ line of Kevin Hayes, Lee Stempniak and Carl Hagelin had better than 80% possession, with Hagelin (13 shot attempts for, 2 against, 86.7%) leading the way…Blues RW Vladimir Tarasenko had a dominant possession game (22 shot attempts for, 4 against, 84.6%) in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to Dallas…The Ducks line of Andrew Cogliano, Nate Thompson and Jakob Silfverberg had excellent possession stats against Vancouver, with Thompson (27 shot attempts for, 5 against, 84.4%) leading the way. Coyotes G Devan Dubnyk stopped 35 of 36 shots in Saturday’s 2-1 shootout win against Anaheim. After washing out with an .891 save percentage last season, Dubnyk has rebounded with a career-best .924 save percentage this season…Lightning G Ben Bishop stopped 25 of 26 shots in a 2-1 win over Carolina…Hurricanes G Cam Ward turned aside 36 of 38 shots in the loss…Capitals G Braden Holtby had a 31-save shutout at Pittsburgh Saturday, lifting his save percentage in December to .933, which ranks fifth among goaltenders with at least 10 appearances this month. FIRSTS Max Friberg – A fifth-round pick in 2011, Friberg played his first NHL game for Anaheim Sunday, playing 8:47 against Vancouver. He had 11 points (5 G, 6 A) in 14 AHL games. Jeremy Morin – The Columbus winger scored his first goal of the season, on his 39th shot, ending his reign as the forward with the most shots without a goal this season. STILL LOOKING FOR GOAL NO. 1 PLAYER TEAM POS GP SOG Joakim Andersson Detroit LW 28 33 Brandon Bollig Calgary LW 30 28 Manny Malhotra Montreal C 35 28 Colin Greening Ottawa LW 15 27 Cody McCormick Buffalo LW 26 27 FANTASY TIPS It’s a busy night on the NHL schedule, with a dozen games. Here are half a dozen players in action that you may want to add to your lineup: Dmitrij Jaskin – Since being recalled to St. Louis from the AHL, Jaskin has three points (1 G, 2 A) in four games, skating on a line with Patrik Berglund and Paul Stastny. Josh Bailey – Playing with John Tavares and Kyle Okposo on the Islanders’ top line is a good gig and Bailey has four points (1 G, 3 A) in the past five games. Mike Hoffman – Ottawa’s leading goal scorer is getting a fine opportunity alongside Mika Zibanejad and Bobby Ryan. Mark Scheifele – The Winnipeg centre has nine points (3 G, 6 A) in the past seven games, riding high on a line with Mathieu Perreault and Michael Frolik. Sam Gagner – It’s been a hard start to his time in Arizona, but Gagner is coming on, with seven points (2 G, 5 A) in the past five games. Jamie McBain – He’s playing third-pair minutes in Los Angeles, but has been productive, with five points (2 G, 3 A) in his past six games – three points in three games since returning to the lineup. 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 Cubs Jerseys 2019 . Durant finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds, Jackson matched his career high with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Lamb scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, lifting the Thunder to a 94-88 win over San Antonio and snapping the Spurs 11-game winning streak. Billy Williams Jersey . 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