forward depth comes through, Callahan keeps producing, and backup goalies deliver shutouts.

forward depth comes through, Callahan keeps producing, and backup goalies deliver shutouts. Adidas Dustin Brown Jersey . Lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Blake Comeau – The Penguins winger had a hat trick in a 4-3 overtime win against Toronto. With eight goals in 20 games this season, he was one of the best bargain signings of the off-season, made all the more important by Pascal Dupuis absence from the lineup due to blood clots. Here are the highest scoring veteran forwards – minimum 200 GP and have been eligible for unrestricted free agency – with a cap hit of a million dollars or less this season: Bargain Shopping PLAYER TEAM POS GP G A PTS CAP HIT Blake Comeau Pittsburgh LW/RW 20 8 5 13 $700,000 Steve Downie Pittsburgh RW 21 3 7 10 $1,000,000 Derek Roy Nashville C 21 1 9 10 $1,000,000 Ryan Carter Minnesota C 20 2 7 9 $725,000 Lee Stempniak N.Y. Rangers RW 18 4 4 8 $900,000 Patrick Eaves Dallas RW 16 2 5 7 $650,000 Ryan Callahan – On a night that marked Martin St. Louis’ return to Tampa Bay, the player for whom he was traded scored two goals and added an assist in a 4-3 win for the Lightning. Playing with Steven Stamkos (who had a goal and two assists against the Rangers) seems to agree with Callahan, as he has 19 points (10 G, 9 A) in 18 games for the season to go with strong (56.5% Corsi) possession stats. Backups with Shutouts Martin Jones – The Kings’ second-stringer recorded a 28-save shutout in a 4-0 win at Minnesota. Through his first 25 career appearances, Jones has a .935 save percentage. Since the start of last season, that’s the best save percentage among goaltenders with at least 25 games played. Karri Ramo – Calgary’s backup stopped all 32 shots he faced in a 2-0 shutout win at San Jose, the first time this season that he’s allowed fewer than two goals against. ZEROES Mark Scheifele – The Jets centre had no shot attempts and 33.3% (7 shot attempts for, 14 against) possession in 18:43 at Buffalo and has two points (1 G, 1 A) in his past seven games. Troy Brouwer – The Capitals winger had no shot attempts and was buried in the defensive zone (4 shot attempts for, 21 against, 16.0%) in 17:38 against the Islanders. Red Light District Darcy Kuemper – Surrendered four goals on 10 shots and was pulled after the first period in a 4-0 loss to Los Angeles. Steve Mason – Two days after getting lauded for improved play in Philadelphia, Mason gave up three goals in 14 shots against Detroit. Easy come, easy go. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Roberto Luongo – Florida’s ace puck-stopper suffered an upper-body injury and left after stopping all 11 shots he faced in Florida’s 1-0 win over Carolina. With Luongo sidelined, Al Montoya will get more starts and Dan Ellis has been called up from the AHL. Pavel Datsyuk – Returned to the Red Wings’ lineup and scored two goals in a 5-2 win over Philadelphia. Andrew Shaw – Was back in the Chicago lineup, and scored a goal, in a 3-2 win at Colorado. Karl Alzner – With Mike Green out with an upper-body injury, Alzner played 22:42 against the Islanders, his first time over 22 minutes since the third game of the season. Erik Johnson – The Colorado defenceman was out of the lineup after getting an elbow in the head the previous game. Karl Stollery was plugged into the Avalanche lineup with Johnson out. David Booth – The veteran winger played his first game of the season for the Maple Leafs, playing 9:33 at Pittsburgh. Luke Schenn – Was a healthy scratch for the Flyers at Detroit. He’s been averaging a career-low 16:21 per game this season, but has serviceable possession (49.0% Corsi) stats in that limited role. Michal Jordan – The 24-year-old has been putting in time in the AHL, and was called up after putting up seven points (2 G, 5 A) in 15 games this season. He was inserted into the Carolina lineup at Florida and played 14:59. SHORT SHIFTS Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin scored a pair of goals in a 3-2 loss to the Islanders…The league’s most efficient point producer at even-strength, Islanders RW Ryan Strome picked up a couple of assists in a 3-2 win over the Capitals…Maple Leafs LW Leo Komarov had a pair of goals in a 4-3 loss at Pittsburgh. Komarov has nine points (4 G, 5 A) in the past nine games…Penguins C Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists in Pittsburgh’s 4-3 win over Toronto…C Sidney Crosby and D Kris Letang each had a pair of assists…Flyers C Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist in a 5-2 loss at Detroit, giving him 13 points (5 G, 8 A) in the past 10 games. Rangers LW Rick Nash had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 loss at Tampa Bay; with 23 points (15 G, 8 A) in 21 games, he’s averaging a career-best 1.10 points per game…Red Wings LW Stephen Weiss picked up a goal and an assist in Detroit’s 5-2 win against Philadelphia, the second straight game in which he’s recorded two points, giving him four points in three games this season…Sharks D Brent Burns attempted 10 shots against Calgary and none made it on net. Nine were blocked and one missed the target…Kings RW Dustin Brown scored a goal and added an assist in a 4-0 win at Minnesota. He now has five points (2 G, 3 A) in the past five games, after scoring two points in the first 18 games of the season…Blackhawks RW Patrick Kane assisted on all three of Chicago’s goals in a 3-2 win at Colorado. Kane has 11 points (4 G, 7 A) in the past six games… Flames RW Jiri Hudler scored both of Calgary’s goals in a 2-0 win at San Jose, giving him 10 points (7 G, 3 A) in the past 10 games…Flames D T.J. Brodie assisted on both goals and now has 20 points (5 G, 15 A) in 24 games on the season, second only to defence partner Mark Giordano…Jets LW Andrew Ladd spent a lot of the night in Buffalo’s zone, with 16 shot attempts for and 4 against (80.0%)…Tampa Bay’s fourth line – Brenden Morrow, Brian Boyle and Cedric Paquette – were all on for better than 80% of even-strength shot attempts against the Rangers. Paquette (11 shot attempts for, 2 against) led the trio with 84.6%...N.Y. Rangers fourth line – Jesper Fast, Tanner Glass and Dominic Moore – were the mirror image, all under 20%, with Fast at the low end (1 shot attempt for, 11 against, 8.3%)…Sharks RW Matt Nieto has just one assist in the past 10 games, but had San Jose’s best possession stats (25 shot attempts for, 8 against, 75.8%) in San Jose’s 2-0 loss to Calgary. 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