Tips & Tricks » d, 58-57, on a three-point play 2 minutes later.

Big contributions from small players and three shutouts on a night of lopsided scores; injury news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Sami Vatanen – The Ducks blueliner had a goal and two assists in a 4-3 overtime loss at Calgary, giving him 16 points in 20 games this season. Only Mark Giordano (21) and Brent Burns (18) have more points among defencemen this season and Vatanen’s 12 power-play points leads all blueliners. While Vatanen is a veritable beast with the man advantage, he hasnt been ideal in possession terms, with a 48.3% Corsi to this point in the year, down from 53.6% last season. Brian Gionta – After going without a goal in his first 19 games with his new team, the Sabres’ captain scored two goals and an assist in a 4-1 win over San Jose. Gionta’s points per game (0.30) and shots per game (1.70) are at career-low rates, mired in the muck of the situation in which the Sabres find themselves this season. Shutouts – Tuukka Rask – Stopped all 33 St. Louis shots he faced in Boston’s 2-0 shutout win. Rask is coming around, after a slow start, posting a .935 save percentage in seven November games, after an .899 save percentage in October. Jimmy Howard – Had a 28-save shutout in Detroit’s 5-0 win at Columbus, his best start of the season, following his worst (four goals on 19 shots against Montreal Sunday). Marc-Andre Fleury – Recorded a 27-save shutout in Pittsburgh’s 4-0 win at Montreal. It was Fleury’s league-leading fourth shutout and he has a .930 save percentage, which is a career-high. ZEROES Goalies – Jonathan Bernier & James Reimer – They weren’t the only Maple Leafs to blame – there was plenty of company in that dressing room (Roman Polak and Peter Holland were both minus-4, for example) -- but a combined nine goals on 37 shots is a .757 save percentage. Troy Grosenick – After stopping 45 shots in his NHL debut, Grosenick followed up by allowing three goals on 13 shots in San Jose’s 4-1 loss at Buffalo. Grosenick had a .905 save percentage in 45 AHL games before getting called up, so it’s not reasonable to expect him to be a difference-maker in the NHL. Kari Lehtonen – The Stars’ goaltender surrendered four goals on 16 shots before getting pulled against Carolina. Devils’ fourth line – The line of Steve Bernier, Dainius Zubrus and Stephen Gionta was stuck in the defensive zone at Winnipeg, none more than Bernier, who had no shot attempts for and 10 against at even strength. Flames burned – Left winger Sven Baertschi has had an up-and-down ride since getting called up and was down Tuesday against Anaheim, on for zero shot attempts for and nine against, while rookie centre Josh Jooris did manage to get on for one shot attempt for at even strength, with 21 against ( LINEUP NEED TO KNOW David Krejci – Boston’s centre returned to action Tuesday, after missing nearly two weeks with a lower-body injury. He returned to a spot between Milan Lucic and Seth Griffith. Brad Marchand – Boston’s agitating winger missed Tuesday’s game against St. Louis with an undisclosed injury. Matt Fraser took his spot on the wing with Patrice Bergeron and Reilly Smith. Ryan Johansen – Columbus’ leading scorer was benched in the third period after an ill-advised roughing penalty – it took Detroit eight seconds on the PP to take a 2-0 game to 3-0 – and Johansen was held without a shot attempt in 15:41 of ice time. Olli Maatta – Two weeks after having surgery to remove a cancerous tumour, the Penguins’ second-year blueliner played 20:14 at Montreal. No big deal, apparently. Adam Henrique – Returning to the New Jersey lineup for the first time in a couple of weeks, Henrique centered a line with Tuomo Ruutu and Damien Brunner in the Devils’ 3-1 loss at Winnipeg. Rocco Grimaldi – With Aleksander Barkov ill, the Panthers’ prospect played in the AHL in the morning – held off the scoresheet in a 4-3 San Antonio win over Oklahoma City – then was called up to join the Panthers in L.A. for the night game, centering a line with Scottie Upshall and Tomas Kopecky. Martin Hanzal – Sat out Arizona’s 2-1 overtime loss to Washington with a lower-body injury and Kyle Chipchura moved in to his spot, playing centre on a line with Martin Erat and Tobias Rieder. Kris Russell – The Flames defenceman is out with a lower-body injury, which resulted in Ladislav Smid taking on a bigger role, playing a season-high 21:13 against Anaheim. David Jones – The Flames winger is out with a lower-body injury. He played a season-low 9:45 Saturday against Ottawa and was replaced in the lineup – and on a line with Curtis Glencross and Sean Monahan – by Devin Setoguchi Tuesday. Adam McQuaid – The Bruins defenceman, who had been playing a bigger role with so many injuries on the Boston blueline, left early in the win over St. Louis after blocking a shot from Kevin Shattenkirk. If McQuaid is out, the Bruins have to hope that Kevan Miller will be ready to return soon or may need to dip into the AHL, again, just to have six healthy defencemen. Michal Neuvirth – Buffalo’s started left with a lower-body injury after stopping all 10 shots he faced in the first period against San Jose. He was replaced by Jhonas Enroth and goalie coach Arturs Irbe was the Sabres’ emergency backup goaltender. Cedric Paquette – Tampa Bay’s rookie checking centre left Tuesday’s loss to the Islanders with a lower-body injury, playing only 2:40. Going into the game, Paquette had scored five goals in the previous six games and played a career-high 16:25 the game before. Tyson Strachan – The journeyman defenceman is getting lots of work in Buffalo with Josh Gorges sidelined. Strachan played 24:24 against San Jose, (4 shot attempts for, 20 against, 16.7%), his most in an NHL game aside from three late-season games with Florida in March and April of 2013. SHORT SHIFTS Tomas Jurco, Riley Sheahan, Tomas Tatar each had a goal and an assist, and combined for 15 shots on goal, for Detroit in a 5-0 win at Columbus…Predators RW Taylor Beck had two goals and an assist at Toronto, after an eight-game scoreless streak…Predators LW Filip Forsberg picked up a goal and an assist at Toronto, giving him 15 points (8 G, 7 A) in the past nine games…Devils LW Patrik Elias scored a goal at Winnipeg, ending a 17-game goalless streak…Jets LW Michael Frolik had a goal and an assist, and has four points (3 G, 1 A) in the past four games…Jets C Mathieu Perreault scored his first goal of the season, ending a 27-game regular-season drought going back to last season. Stars LW Jamie Benn had a goal and an assist vs. Carolina, ending an 11-game goalless streak…Stars C Tyler Seguin scored a pair of goals in a 6-4 loss to Carolina, giving him seven goals in the past six games…Flames D Dennis Wideman scored a pair of goals, giving him seven on the season, in a 4-3 overtime win against Anaheim…Flames C Markus Granlund had a pair of assists for the Flames, his second straight multi-point game. Granlund has eight points (3 G, 5 A) in nine games since getting called up from the AHL…Panthers RW Jimmy Hayes continued his recent run with a goal and an assist in a 5-2 loss at Los Angeles. Hayes has seven points (4 G, 3 A) in the past six games…Kings C Anze Kopitar had a couple of assists, and has seven points (3 G, 4 A) in the past five games, after three points in his first 11 games…Blues C David Backes didn’t register a shot attempt in 19:55 at Boston…Penguins RW Beau Bennett had a goal and two assists in a 4-0 win at Montreal, his first points (in his fourth game) of the season. FANTASY FOCUS Only a couple of games on the schedule tonight, so here are a couple of players you may want to get into your lineup: Brayden Schenn – With Claude Giroux out, the Flyers need support for RW Jakub Voracek and Schenn has seven points (3 G, 4 A) during a five-game point streak. Nick Bonino – Vancouver’s leading scorer in November, with six points in eight games, Bonino has 14 even-strength points this season, tied for 10th in the league with the likes of Henrik Zetterberg, Vladimir Tarasenko and Mark Giordano. 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 Nike Daybreak Norge . Catch all the action on TSN2 and TSN GO at 9pm et/6pm pt. San Antonio took the series lead Monday night with a 122-105 home victory in Game 1. The Spurs used a balanced scoring attack and clamped down defensively late in the third quarter to claim the win. Vapormax China . Hattestad managed to avoid the carnage midway through the mens final, as a crash took out three skiers, essentially leaving two men vying for gold. The Norwegian posted a time of 3:38.39, outlasting Swedens Teodor Peterson, who took silver with a time of 3:39. http://www.vapormaxnorge.com/ . The announcement was made by the hall on Friday, March 14. She joins Switzerlands Denise Biellmann as this years inductees to the Hall, based in Colorado Springs, CO. Vapormax Svart Dame Norge . Perez, 35, posted a 1-2 record with a 3.69 earned-run average in 19 relief appearances last season. His season ended Aug. 9 due to a torn ligament in his left elbow. Perez joins infielder Andy LaRoche and catcher Mike Nickeas with minor-league agreements for 2014 that include invitations to attend spring training. Nike Vapormax Dame Norge . The Brazil defender was substituted 13 minutes into Wednesdays 2-1 Copa del Rey win at Athletic Bilbao because of a right hamstring problem. Scans revealed a second grade tear which could keep him out for a reported four to six weeks.Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - The Boston Bruins announced Monday that the team has signed goaltender Niklas Svedberg to a one-year contract. The deal is a one-way pact with a cap hit of $600,000, making Svedberg the likely favorite to serve as the backup to Tuukka Rask next season. Chad Johnson, who served as the Bruins No. 2 netminder in 2013-14, is due to be an unrestricted free agent. Svedberg made his NHL debut on Jan..dddddddddddd. 2 and earned the win in Bostons 3-2 overtime decision against Nashville, stopping 33-of-35 shots. The 24-year-old Swede was named the American Hockey Leagues most outstanding goaltender for the 2012-13 campaign and compiled a 25-15-4 record with a 2.63 goals against average and two shutouts for Providence of the AHL last season. Boston originally signed Svedberg out of the Swedish Elite League in May of 2012. ' ' '