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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 Wholesale Air Max 90 .com) - Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau has been selected as the NHLs Rookie of the Month for December, the league announced Friday. Air Max 90 Australia . The top-ranked Williams carried her winning momentum from 2013 into the new season, beating No. 2-ranked Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday to defend her title at the Brisbane International and set the tone for the Australian Open. http://www.wholesaleaustraliaairmax90.com/ . Finlands Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves to lead Dallas over the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 Saturday night. He received plenty of help from the Stars defence and got goals from Ray Whitney and Russias Valeri Nichushkin. Wholesale Air Max 90 Australia . And former Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson certainly knows his pain. "Its pretty hard to coach there without allowing some of these things to kind of affect you," Wilson told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun in his ESPN. Air Max 90 Womens Australia .Derrick Rose scored 23 points, and the Bulls pulled away from the Nets for a 105-80 victory on Wednesday night. Chicago held Brooklyn to 29 points on 26.Roberto Luongo will looking to erase some painful memories as he leads the Vancouver Canucks against the Bruins tonight. Luongo will be making his first start at the TD Garden since Game 6 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final when he surrendered three first period goals in a potential Cup-clinching game for the Canucks. The Canucks will try to avoid matching their longest winless streak of the season on Tuesday night as they visit the Atlantic Division-leading Bruins. The Canucks have lost four straight in regulation, one setback shy of their longest stretch without a win this season done twice before. Vancouver was able to earn some points over those earlier droughts, going 0-3-2 from Nov. 9-19 and 0-2-3 from Dec. 30-Jan. 7. Vancouver is holding on to the eighth spot in the Western Conference by just a single point over the Phoenix Coyotes and were unable to get a spark from the return of both coach John Tortorella and captain Henrik Sedin on Monday. Tortorella returned to the bench after serving a 15-day suspension for his actions in a game versus the Calgary Flames on Jan. 18, missing six games. Sedin was absent for each one due to a rib injury that halted his consecutive games played streak at 679 and was held off the scoresheet in last nights 2-0 setback to the Detroit Red Wings. Eddie Lack made 28 saves in the second contest of a five-game road trip, but Detroit got eight saves from Jonas Gustavsson in the first period before he exited due to dizziness. Jimmy Howard stopped all 16 Vancouver shots he faced the rest of the way. "We cant buy a win right now," Lack said. "Im trying to do my job and keep us in every game. Its tough." After Detroit scored the games first goal early in the second period, David Booth was hooked on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot. However, Howard turned his chance aside to leave the Canucks and Tortorella frustrated. "We need to change the complexion of our hockey club, either with our play or with different people, because we looked like a slow hockey team tonight," noted Tortorella. "Were going to keep on banging away to try and get better, but its very frustrating to see the same looks. It worries me. Ill leave it at that." One change that could happen tonight is the insertion of defenseman Raphael Diaz into the lineup. He was acquiredd in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on Monday for forward Dale Weise.dddddddddddd Diaz could make his debut with the Canucks tonight after notching 11 assists and a minus-4 rating in 43 games with the Habs this season. Hell help fill a void on the back end left by injuries to Kevin Bieksa (foot) and Christopher Tanev (thumb). The Bruins will host the Canucks to close a four-game homestand and are 6-1-1 in their last eight games. That stretch includes a disappointing and lackluster 4-1 loss to Montreal on Thursday, but Boston rebounded to secure a 4-0 triumph over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. Chad Johnson made 22 saves in his first shutout of the season and second of his career, while Boston scored three times in the third period to break open a close game. Dougie Hamilton started the burst 6:43 into the frame before Carl Soderberg and Torey Krug followed with goals. David Krejci also lit the lamp and Zdeno Chara added a pair of assists for the Bruins, who posted 19 of their 41 shots in the third period. "Well, I think so -- a much better game tonight in all aspects of it," said Bruins head coach Claude Julien comparing the game to Thursdays loss to Montreal. "Thought that goal by Dougie kind of made everybody relax a little bit more and our game seemed to get better after that too." Boston leads the Tampa Bay Lightning by four points for the top spot in the division and will have Chara in the lineup tonight for the last time before the Olympic break. The hulking defenseman will not play on Thursday in St. Louis or Saturday versus Ottawa as he had earlier been selected to carry Slovakias flag during the Opening Ceremonies on Friday for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. The Bruins have lost three of their last four versus the Canucks, including a 6-2 setback on Dec. 14 that marked the first time the two clubs met in Vancouver since Boston won Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. Tuukka Rask got the start for the Bruins, but was pulled early in the second period after allowing four goals on 23 shots. He fell to 0-1-1 with a 3.38 goals against average in his career versus the Canucks. Sedin had a goal and an assist in the victory, while Roberto Luongo posted 39 saves to improve to 12-10-3 in his career versus Boston with a 2.38 GAA and four shutouts. ' ' '