Basisphilosophie » their defence can help

Nash continues to hold the hot hand, a hat trick for Tyler Johnson, van Riemsdyk leads Leafs to a road win, lineup news and more in Scott Cullens Statistically Speaking. HEROES Rick Nash - The Rangers winger scored two goals and added an assist in a 4-2 win against Washington. He has 22 points (11 G, 11 A) in the past 18 games, and is riding a career-best 19.1% shooting percentage on his way to a career-high 0.69 goals per game and 1.13 points per game. The percentages have led Nash to an incredibly efficent scoring rate this season. Among players with at least 300 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time: POINTS PER 60 MINUTES PLAYER TEAM POS PTS/60 Rick Nash N.Y. Rangers LW 3.70 Tyler Johnson Tampa Bay C 3.51 Tyler Seguin Dallas RW 3.40 Jakub Voracek Philadelphia RW 3.27 Nikita Kucherov Tampa Bay RW 3.22 Tyler Johnson - Tampa Bays second-year pivot tallied a hat trick in a 4-3 win over Pittsburgh; he has eight points (5 G, 3 A) during a five-game point streak. Johnsons linemates, Ondrej Palat (3 A) and Nikita Kucherov (1 G, 2 A) both had three points in Lightning win. James van Riemsyk - The Maple Leafs left winger, who played with Nazem Kadri and Mike Santorelli, had a goal and two assists in a 4-0 win at Dallas, and has 15 points (6 G, 9 A) in the past 13 games. Maple Leafs RW Phil Kessel also recorded a pair of assists giving him 15 points (6 G, 9 A) in the past 13 games. As Travis Yost pointed out, though, not everything was sunshine-and-lollipops with Torontos top line, so shuffling the personnel is an understandable approach. ZEROES Sven Andrighetto - The Habs rookie didnt play much against the Islanders, 4:55 at even strength, but despite starting all of his shifts in the offensive zone, Andrighetto was on the ice for zero shot attempts for and 10 against. Rasmus Ristolainen - Fed to the proverbial wolves against Detroits top line, the second-year Sabres defenceman was on for three shot attempts for and 30 against (9.1%) in a 6-3 loss at Detroit. Goalies: Oilers - Same old story. Ben Scrivens allowed two goals on three shots, then Viktor Fasth surrendered three goals on 19 shots. Oilers still have the leagues worst save percentage. Darcy Kuemper - Minnesotas goaltender allowed four goals on 29 shots in a 5-2 loss to Philadelphia. In his past seven games, he has an .861 save percentage, which is going to start putting pressure on the Wild to find a workable solution between the pipes. Jake Allen - The Blues goalie hasnt been able to take hold of the number one job with Brian Elliott hurt, and gave up five goals on 31 shots in two periods against Colorado. Thats a lot of shots for the Blues to give up, but Allen has an .879 save percentage in seven games this month and thats going to present more opportunities for Martin Brodeur. Corey Crawford - In his second game since returning from injury, the Blackhawks goalie was pulled after allowing three goals on 13 shots, in 15:30, against Winnipeg. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Semyon Varlamov - Returned to the Colorado net for the first time in 19 days and recorded a 26-save shutout against St. Louis. Patrik Elias, Martin Havlat - The New Jersey wingers remain out while awaiting results from mumps testing; the Devils activated Mike Cammalleri and promoted Tim Sestito from the AHL to fill the lineup void. Tom Wilson - The Capitals made their second-year winger a healthy scratch in a 4-2 loss at the Rangers. Wilson had no goals, four assists and four shots on goal in the past eight games. Brandon Gormley - Playing his first game in more than a month, the Coyotes defenceman contributed a goal and an assist in Arizonas 5-1 win at Edmonton. Jeff Zatkoff - With Thomas Greiss out and Marc-Andre Fleury yanked after allowing three goals on 10 shots against Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh turned to last years backup goaltender who has been very good (.926 SV%) in 16 AHL games this season. SHORT SHIFTS Bruins C Patrice Bergeron had three assists in a 5-3 win against Nashville; he has 10 points (1 G, 9 A) in the past nine games…Bruins RW Loui Eriksson scored a pair of goals in the win over Nashville, and now has eight points (6 G, 2 A) in the past eight games…Bruins LW Brad Marchand also buried a couple of goals against Nashville and has nine points (4 G, 5 A) in the past nine games…Capitals D John Carlson had a pair of assists in a 4-2 loss at the Rangers, and has 14 points (2 G, 12 A) in the past 13 games…Rangers C Derick Brassard had two assists in a 4-2 win vs. Washington, giving him nine points (2 G, 7 A) in his past eight games…Rangers RW Mats Zuccarello recorded two assists against Washington and has eight points (2 G, 6 A) in the past seven games. Penguins C Evgeni Malkin had a pair of assists in a 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay, and has 23 points (9 G, 14 A) in the past 19 games…Coyotes C Sam Gagner delivered four points (2 G, 2 A) in Arizonas 5-1 win over Edmonton; Gagner had three points in his previous 11 games…Since starting his time in Winnipeg with three assists in 19 games, C Mathieu Perrault has 14 points (8 G, 6 A) in 15 games after scoring a pair of goals in a 5-1 win at Chicago… Sabres C Brian Flynn had a couple of assists in a 6-3 loss at Detroit; he has five points (1 G, 4 A) in his past five games, after five points in his first 21 games of the season. Detroits top line - Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Justin Abdelkader - all had possession better than 90% against Buffalo, with Datsyuk (23 shot attempts for, 2 against, 92.0%) leading the way…Capitals rookies Evgeni Kuznetsov (9 shot attempts for, 1 against, 90.0%) and Andre Burakovsky (14 for, 2 against, 87.5%) had strong possession numbers in a 4-2 loss at the Rangers. Canadiens G Carey Price stopped 37 of 38 Islanders shots in a 3-1 win. Since the start of last season, Prices .926 save percentage ranks as best among goaltenders that have played at least 50 games… Maple Leafs G Jonathan Bernier stopped all 43 shots he faced in a 4-0 win at Dallas, a nice bounce-back performance after allowing seven goals against Philadelphia Saturday…Sabres G Michal Neuvirth surrendered six goals on 39 shots in a 6-3 loss at Detroit. FIRSTS Joel Armia - The 16th overall pick by the Sabres in 2011 made his NHL debut - playing with Tyler Ennis and Zemgus Girgensons, which is effectively Buffalos top line - at Detroit. Armia had 16 points (7 G, 9 A) and was plus-4 in 21 games at Rochester of the AHL. Brendan Woods - A fifth-round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2012, the 6-foot-3 winger made his NHL debut in a 2-1 shootout win at New Jersey. Woods had 13 points (6 G, 7 A) and was plus-1 in 29 AHL games. Dominik Uher - As the Penguins deal with a growing list of injuries, they summoned their 2011 fifth-round pick to make his NHL debut and he played 7:17 at Tampa Bay. Uher had nine points (4 G, 5 A) with a plus-6 rating in 29 AHL games before getting promoted. With that, the NHL takes a break for Christmas, and Statistically Speaking will too. All the best to you and yours as you celebrate the holidays. 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 Brett Hull Jersey . If there is one club built to handle an off-field controversy, its the Bill Belichick era Patriots. Even if New Englands offence stumbles a bit out of the gate, their defence can help them stay in games, especially in the AFC East with the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets in the first two weeks. Joe Mullen Jersey . The defending champions’ roller coaster season included trading offensive star Percy Harvin in the midst of the team’s 3-3 start. That move that reportedly irked several Seahawk players, but one management saw necessary to save the team’s chemistry. http://www.cheapbluesjerseys.info/authentic-vladimir-tarasenko-blues-jersey/ . Dwyane Wade took over in the fourth quarter. Pierre Turgeon Jersey . Both of Padakins goals came in the second period while Zane Jones added a single in the first period for Calgary (13-6-4). Hitmen goaltender Chris Driedger finished with 30 saves for the shutout. Jaden Schwartz Jersey . "Yeah, [I heard them]," he said. "They made me miss the free throw." A year ago, Lowrys post-game antics may not have been so well received but what was snide and snarky is now endearing quick wit.MADRID, Spain -- Athletic Bilbao secured its return to the Champions League next season by winning 3-0 at Rayo Vallecano on Friday to lock up a fourth-place finish in the Spanish league. With Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona destined to take the top three spots, Bilbao fended off Sevillas late surge to seal its return to Europes top-tier competition for the first time since the 1998-99 season. The Basque side qualified for the playoff round to reach the group phase. "When I think back on how difficult this year has been, on how much we have won and lost, and to see this now, we have to enjoy it," Bilbao defender Mikel San Jose said while his teammates celebrated with a large group of their travelling fans. Bilbaos quest of reaching the Champions League was led by coach Ernesto Valverde, a former player who returned to coach the club a second time this summer after the exit of Marcelo Bielsa. Bilbao kept Rayos attack in check while taking advantage of a number of well-executed set pieces..dddddddddddd After Mikel Rico and Aritz Aduriz both went close with shots resulting from corner kicks, San Jose acrobatically tapped in a ball from Markel Susaeta in the 20th minute to open the scoring. Forward Oscar de Marcos added a second goal 10 minutes later when he fired in a loose ball from a fourth corner kick, and Ander Herrera curled his free kick around the defensive wall and in off the post in the 74th to cap the win. The match in Madrid was twice delayed due to incidents involving both groups of supporters. The kickoff was 15 minutes late to let the Vallecas Stadium grounds crew clean up a large amount of paper bits Rayos home fans threw onto the pitch while festively celebrating before the game. The game was briefly stopped a second time after a barrier collapse in front of a section of Bilbao supporters following their teams second goal. TV images showed one man with what appeared to be a cut on his head. Another man needed to be carried off the pitch while he held his foot. 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