Welcome to Just the Stats with TSN Stats guy Kevin Gibson. Be sure to check back every Wednesday to find out who’s hot and who’s cold to help you set your fantasy lineup.
Trivia Question: Which team leads the NHL with seven overtime/shootout losses? (Answer below)
Hot
- Tampa Bay is 18-4-1 in their last 23 games, including 9-0-1 in their last 10. In those 23 games, they’re averaging 4.35 goals per game. The Lightning are averaging 4.03 goals per game on the season, which is noteworthy because no team in the shootout era has averaged more than four goals per game over an entire season (shootout goals not included). Helping pump up the goal production is Nikita Kucherov who has a point in 16 of the past 17 games (eight goals, 24 assists). Captain Steven Stamkos had seven goals in his first 25 games of the season, but now has 10 goals in his last 10 games, including five on the power play.
- Winnipeg Jets star Mark Scheifele was held off the scoresheet Tuesday night – just the 10th time that’s happened this season. That ended a streak of five straight multi-point games, including four games with three points. Scheifele has almost as many three and four-point games (eight) as he does pointless games this season. He’s only gone back-to-back games without a point twice. The Jets are in San Jose on Thursday. Scheifele has three goals and two assists in his last three games at the Shark Tank.
Cold
- Welcome to the NHL, Carter Hart. He was between the pipes for the Flyers last night as Philadelphia became the second team in NHL history to use six goalies in a season before Christmas. The other team was the 2002-03 St. Louis Blues. Dave Hakstol was the fifth NHL head coach fired this season, which ties the same number dismissed in all of the 2016-17 season. A lot of people are questioning if this is the right time to bring up Hart, the team’s prized goaltending prospect. The Flyers are last in team save percentage at .875, so the kid can’t do much worse. The Flyers are averaging 29.5 shots against per game – seventh fewest in the NHL this season – so Hart shouldn’t be hammered too badly. Last night was just the Flyers’ fourth win in their last 15 games. The team surrendered 58 goals in that span, while their power play went an abysmal 4-for-37. Perhaps calling up Hart will be the Flyers TSN turning point on the season? Right now, it’s pretty chilly in Philly.
Answer: The New Jersey Devils are 1-7 this season when they go past 60 minutes.
Kevin Gibson has been TSN’s Stats Guy for more than a decade. He has also written many non-leather-bound books. Follow him on Twitter @TSNResearch.