A scoring star in Nashville, a breakthrough game for a Wild winger and Ottawa’s big shooter; lineup notes, Fantasy Tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Filip Forsberg – The league’s top-scoring rookie is on a tear, with 14 points (7 G, 7 A) during a seven-game point streak, including a goal and two assists in a 4-3 loss at St. Louis Thursday. In a losing effort, it was a dominant performance, as Forsberg had 13 shot attempts (5 SOG) while playing a career-high 22:34. With 20 points (8 G, 12 A) and impressive possession (57.4%) in 16 games, Forsberg is starting to open a gap in the Calder Trophy race. While his percentages (16.0 SH%, 15.9 on-ice SH%) arent going to remain so lofty, Forsberg is generating 3.13 shots on goal per game -- right there with veterans Marian Hossa, Patrick Marleau and Henrik Zetterberg -- enough to indicate that his production isnt all good fortune. Nino Niederreiter – Tallied a hat trick against Buffalo, generating nine shot attempts (5 SOG) with strong possession stats (18 attempts for, 5 against, 78.3%), playing a career-high 18:32, in Minnesota’s 6-3 win. Niederreiter has eight points (6 G, 2 A) in the past 10 games, and has been a solid possession performer (57.3%) for the Wild this season. Mike Hoffman – The Senators’ rookie winger scored a pair of goals, including the overtime winner, in a 4-3 win at Edmonton. Hoffman has six goals in the past five games and is generating shots at an elite rate. Among players with at least 100 5-on-5 minutes this season: Shots Per 60 Minutes PLAYER TEAM EV SHOTS/60 Mike Hoffman Ottawa 13.74 Rick Nash N.Y. Rangers 13.50 Cam Atkinson Columbus 13.13 Max Pacioretty Montreal 13.00 Justin Williams Los Angeles 12.49 Jamie Benn Dallas 12.40 Patric Hornqvist Pittsburgh 12.16 Nikita Kucherov Tampa Bay 12.08 James Neal Nashville 12.03 Vladimir Tarasenko St. Louis 11.91 ZEROES Darcy Kuemper – It was a short night for the Wild goaltender, who was pulled after allowing goals on the first two shots he faced against Buffalo; done for the night after 6:24 of playing time. Mike Smith – Arizona’s goaltender continues to have a rough start to the year, allowing five goals on 25 shots at Calgary, leaving him with an .889 save percentage through 13 starts this season. Andrej Sustr – The Lightning defenceman only started 25.0% of his shifts in the offensive zone, but was locked into the defensive zone against San Jose, finishing with six shot attempts for and 25 against (19.4%). LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Jared Spurgeon – Back in the Wild lineup, and none too soon, as Marco Scandella and Jonas Brodin were diagnosed with mumps, leaving the Wild suddenly thin on the blueline. Spurgeon had a goal and eight shots on goal in 29:27 of ice time, the second-highest regular-season ice time of his career. Dan Boyle – Returned to the Rangers’ lineup, playing 22:14 in a 4-3 shootout loss to Colorado. John Moore – Led the Rangers with 24:38 of ice time against Colorado, his most since a couple of games in February, 2012, when he played for Columbus. Alec Martinez – The Kings’ blueliner left, with a suspected hand injury, after playing 11:55 against Dallas. The Kings have been walking a salary cap tight rope with recent injuries on the blueline, so if Martinez is going to be out, more maneuvering will be needed. Alex Killorn – The left winger returned to the Lightning lineup, playing 13:33 against San Jose, primarily with C Valtteri Filppula and RW Ryan Callahan. Sergei Gonchar – The newly-acquired Canadiens defenceman played 20:08 against Boston, and had favourable possession (17 shot attempts for, 12 against, 58.6%) stats. Nathan Beaulieu – Played only 6:43 as the Canadiens’ seventh defenceman, but had an assist and a fight in his limited role. Nikita Zadorov – With Josh Gorges out due to a lower-body injury, the 19-year-old Sabres blueliner played a career-high 25:17 at Minnesota. Colin Wilson – The Predators’ left winger is day-to-day with a lower-body injury and missed Thursday’s game at St. Louis. Ales Hemsky - A healthy scratch in Los Angeles as he has just one assist in his first 15 games for the Dallas Stars. John Klingberg – The Stars’ rookie defenceman played 23:46 at Los Angeles, in his second NHL game, just barely behind Alex Goligoski (24:26) and Trevor Daley (23:55) on the Dallas blueline. SHORT SHIFTS Canadiens C Lars Eller had a goal and an assist in a 5-1 win over Boston, giving him four points (3 G, 1 A) in the past three games, after starting the year with three points in 14 games…Canadiens RW Dale Weise had a Gordie Howe Hat Trick against Boston, with his goal coming via penalty shot…Jets C Mark Scheifele had a pair of assists in a 3-1 win at Carolina, giving him five points (1 G, 4 A) in the past five games, after scoring two points in the first dozen games of the year…Sharks G Antti Niemi stopped 32 of 33 shots for a 2-1 win at Tampa Bay…Sabres C Zemgus Girgensons had a goal and an assist at Minnesota, giving him five points (2 G, 3 A) in the past six games…Wild C Ryan Carter had a goal and an assist against Buffalo and how has eight points in his past 12 games. Carter’s career-high for a season is 15 points (in 44 games, 2012-13)…Predators D Roman Josi picked up a goal and two assists at St. Louis, giving him five points (1 G, 4 A) in the past four games. Blues C Jori Lehtera had a pair of assists against Nashville, giving him 10 points (4 G, 6 A) during a six-game point streak…Blues RW Vladimir Tarasenko continued his hot streak, with a goal and assist against Nashville, giving him 16 points (9 G, 7 A) in the past nine games…Coyotes C Antoine Vermette had a goal and an assist in a 5-3 loss at Calgary, giving him seven points (3 G, 4 A) in the past six games…Coyotes RW Shane Doan had a goal and an assist, giving him six points (4 G, 2 A) in the past six games…Flames LW Sven Baertschi had two assists in a 5-3 win over Arizona, his first points in the NHL since December, 2013…Flames RW David Jones had a goal and an assist against Arizona, giving him five points (3 G, 2 A) in the past five games…Oilers C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a pair of assists in a 4-3 overtime loss to Ottawa and now has seven points (2 G, 5 A) in the past six games…Stars G Kari Lehtonen had a 27-save shutout at Los Angeles. Hurricanes RW Alexander Semin didn’t have a shot attempt in 16:31 of ice time in a 3-1 loss against Winnipeg. He has no goals, and only 16 shots on goal, in 13 games…Predators D Anton Volchenkov had a strong territorial game (15 shot attempts for, 4 against, 79.0%) at St. Louis…While Forsberg is starring for Nashville, Martin Erat didn’t record a shot attempt in 15:47 at Calgary…The Calgary line of Johnny Gaudreau, Markus Granlund and Jiri Hudler was stuck in the defensive zone against Arizona, with Gaudreau posting the worst possession numbers (4 shot attempts for, 14 against, 22.2%) for the game…Coyotes LW Rob Klinkhammer had a strong possession game (16 for, 3 against, 84.2%), thriving head-to-head against David Jones and Curtis Glencross. FIRSTS Jordan Schroeder – Saw his first NHL action of the season, with the Minnesota Wild, playing 12:06 against Buffalo. Schroeder had 11 points (4 G, 7 A) and was minus-6 in a dozen AHL games before getting called up. Patrick Kaleta – Disturber got into his first game of the season for the Sabres, who scratched Marcus Foligno to make room. Foligno had returned to action Tuesday after some time out with a shoulder injury. FANTASY FOCUS There are half a dozen games tonight, so here are some players to consider for your lineup: Matt Read – The Flyers’ winger has one goal and six points in 14 games, but has points in back-to-back games for the first time all year and is skating with Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn on what should be a solid two-way line. Pascal Dupuis – It appears that the Penguins are shaking up their top six, which means Dupuis returning to the right side with Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz. Dupuis has one point in the past six games, but a chance on the wing with No. 87 is a favourable move. Peter Holland – The Leafs centre is suddenly getting a chance, playing 17 minutes per game this month and he’s scored six points (4 G, 2 A) in the past six games. Sam Gagner – It’s been a brutal start to his time in Arizona, with four points in his first 16 games, but Gagner is getting quality ice time and is getting more shots on goal (19 in the past six games). 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 Bruce Smith Jersey . Of course that doesnt mean hes ignoring it. Thats actually rather impossible given the behind-the-scenes access to the Toronto Maple Leafs the network is getting. Zay Jones Womens Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. http://www.authenticbillsfanaticfootball...y-bills-jersey/. Correia pitched six innings of one-run ball, Eduardo Escobar homered, and the Minnesota Twins pulled away late to beat the Colorado Rockies 9-3 on Saturday. Buffalo Bills Jerseys . Perhaps as important, shes sending a message to 17-year-old gold medal favourite Sara Takanashi of Japan. Iraschko-Stolz relegated Takanashi, who has 10 World Cup victories this season, to second place in two of three training jumps Saturday. Dawson Knox Bills Jersey . Among the six changes: Drivers are now eligible if they have competed for 30 or more years in NASCAR or turned 55 in the calendar year before nominating day. Previously, drivers were not eligible until they had been retired for three years, so drivers can continue to compete and still reach the hall.After a bit of a slow start at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, the United States is right up there in the overall medal standings. Seven days into the competition, the U.S. began the day with four gold, two silver and six bronze medals. They are ranked fifth and have the second largest total amount of medals (12) behind Norway. Team USA has produced medals in alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, figure skating, luge and snowboarding. The glaring omission: long track speed skating. Coming into these Games, the U.S. was third in the all-time long track speed skating standings with 67 total medals and they lead in overall gold with 29. Its been 30 years since the U.S. didnt win at least one speed skating medal at the Olympics. In Sochi, Americans Brittany Bowe and Heather Richardson were the undisputed gold medal favourites in the womens 1,000 meters. Between the two, they won every World Cup race this season but in Russia they finished seventh and eighth. Shani Davis was expected to complete his historic three-peat in the 1000m and yet he finished eighth. No American has finished better than seventh place so far. In a sport where races are decided by hundredths of a second, the talk in Sochi has been about the new Under Armour suits U.S. skaters are wearing. Developed in secrecy in corporation with Lockheed Martin, the Mach 39 as it is known even looks uncomfortable to the untrained eye.dddddddddddd A ventilation panel on the back is possibly to blame for taking in air, which hinders skaters from achieving the deep squatted stands required to deliver the ultimate stride. Then there is the U.S. training facility. American skaters have been preparing for Sochi in a building that hosts the fastest ice on the planet in Salt Lake City. The oval is on altitude which ensures fast conditions. However, the Adler Arena in Sochi is on sea level and its properties are completely different. The ice is considered slow where skaters need to rely less on technique and finesse and more on stamina and sheer determination. Team Canada trains on altitude in Calgary and perhaps it is not a coincidence that Denny Morrisons memorable silver moment is the only Canadian medal in Sochi so far. Time is running out for the U.S. long track team - and for Canadas - with only six medal events left at these Games. Both countries have slim medal hopes in the mens 10,000m and the womens 5,000m. The 1,500m - often considered the crown jewel of long track - is wide open but other than that, medaling at the team pursuit is needed to prevent historic lows. ' ' '