Crawford coming up big for Blackhawks; Malkin, Hansen, Stempniak, Letang, fantasy and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking.

After a 25-save shutout against St. Louis Sunday, Blackhawks goaltender Corey Crawford is rocking a .950 save percentage in his past 21 games.

The Blackhawks have climbed to the top of the Central Division, and while the offensive production of Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin has certainly played a big part, so has the tremendous play of Crawford.

This has been a dominant possession team in past years and now Chicago is merely good (52.1% of score-adjusted shot attempts) in that respect this season, so for Chicago to storm back to the top of the standings, they’ve needed this career-best season from Crawford, who has played a league-leading 41 games between the pipes.

As recently as a couple of weeks ago, when I put in my midseason award winners, Crawford was just outside of the top three. As it stands now, though, he has the credentials – the numbers combined with the workload – to stack up with the other top goaltenders.

HEROES

Evgeni Malkin – Notched a hat trick in Saturday’s 5-4 win vs. Vancouver. He has 17 points (6 G, 11 A) in the past 12 games and is up to a point per game (47 points in 47 games) for the season.

Jannik Hansen – Had his own hat trick for Vancouver in Saturday’s 5-4 loss to Pittsburgh, following a seven-game stretch during which he managed no goals and one assist. With 15 goals in 45 games, he’s one away from his career-high total of 16, set in 82 games in 2011-2012 and tied in 81 games last season.

Lee Stempniak – Put in a pair of goals in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Winnipeg. He has seven points (5 G, 2 A) in the past six games and is up to 36 points on the season, his most in a season since 38 in 2010-2011. Not bad value for a player who was widely available in the summer and landed with the Devils on a professional tryout.

ZEROES

Cody Ceci – The Senators blueliner had a tough game against the Islanders Friday, on the ice for 14 shot attempts for and 23 against (37.8 SAT%), as well as on the ice for three Islanders goals. Unfortunately for Ceci, this is not the first time that he’s fallen on the wrong end of the possession scale this season.

Torrey Mitchell – In Montreal’s 3-2 shootout win at Toronto Saturday, Mitchell was stuck in his own end (1 for, 13 against, 7.1 SAT%).

Rasmus Ristolainen – The third-year Sabres defenceman had subpar possession stats (18 for, 33 against, 35.3 SAT%) and was on for all three goals against in Friday’s 3-0 loss against Detroit.

Antti Niemi – Dallas dominated play against Colorado, but Niemi allowed three goals on 15 shots in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Avalanche.

VITAL SIGNS

Brandon Pirri – The Panthers winger was a healthy scratch for Friday’s 4-0 win over Chicago, amid rumours that he’s available for trade. While he does have offensive potential – he’s scored 38 goals in 116 games with the Panthers – Pirri has no points and nine shots on goal in his past six games.

Brad Boyes – A healthy scratch for Saturday’s 3-2 shootout loss to Montreal. Boyes’ usage this season has been bizarre. He has Toronto’s best possession stats and is their most efficient point-producer at even strength, yet 11 Maple Leafs forwards have played more 5-on-5 minutes than Boyes this season.

Vincent Trocheck – The Panthers forward suffered an injury Saturday after blocking a shot by Lightning RW Ryan Callahan.

Travis Hamonic – Returned to the Islanders lineup, after missing more than two weeks with a lower-body injury, and had a goal and an assist in Friday’s 5-2 win at Ottawa.

Milan Michalek – The Senators winger broke his finger Friday against the Islanders, and will be out of the lineup indefinitely.

Mathieu Perrault – Suffered a lower-body injury in Saturday’s loss to New Jersey.

Daniel Paille – The 31-year-old former Bruins and Sabres winger was signed by the Rangers and inserted into the lineup. Paille had four points (1 G, 3 A) in 31 AHL games for Rockford before getting back into the NHL. He averaged 13:15 of ice time in two games for the Rangers over the weekend.

SHORT SHIFTS

Penguins D Kris Letang had a couple of assists in Saturday’s 5-4 win against Vancouver; he has 16 points (5 G, 11 A) in his past 10 games…Sharks RW Joonas Donskoi contributed a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 4-3 win over Minnesota, giving him five points (1 G, 4 A) in the past four games…Sharks LW Joe Pavelski put up a goal and two assists, and has nine points (3 G, 6 A) in the past eight games…Sharks C Joe Thornton contributed a pair of assists, giving him 11 points (2 G, 9 A) during an eight-game point streak…Blue Jackets LW Kerby Rychel had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 3-2 shootout loss to Boston, and has five points (2 G, 3 A) in the past five games…Ducks C Ryan Kesler had two goals in Saturday’s 4-3 win at Detroit, and has seven points (4 G, 3 A) in the past seven games…Ducks RW Corey Perry potted a pair of goals at Detroit, giving him nine goals (and two assists) in the past 14 games…Panthers LW Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 5-2 win over Tampa Bay; he has 16 points (4 G, 12 A) in the past 16 games…Coyotes RW Shane Doan had a goal and an assist in Saturday’s 3-2 win against Los Angeles; he has 16 points (11 G, 5 A) in the past 15 games…Predators D Mattias Ekholm scored a pair of goals in Saturday’s 4-1 win at Edmonton, giving him 10 points (4 G, 6 A) in the past 12 games.

Islanders RW Kyle Okposo tallied a goal and an assist Friday at Ottawa, and has nine points (4 G, 5 A) in the past nine games…Hurricanes LW Kris Versteeg had a pair of goals in Sunday’s 5-2 win against Calgary, giving him eight points (5 G, 3 A) in the past nine games…Hurricanes C Jordan Staal had a couple of assists, and has 10 points (4 G, 6 A) in the past nine games.

The Islanders’ fourth line – Matt Martin, Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck – controlled play (11 for, 1 against, 91.7 SAT%) in Friday’s 5-2 win at Ottawa…Stars C Tyler Seguin recorded 17 shot attempts (8 SOG) and had killer possession numbers (37 for, 6 against, 86.1 SAT%), yet came up empty on the scoresheet in Saturday’s 3-1 loss against Colorado…The Senators line of Shane Prince, Max McCormick and Chris Neil excelled during Sunday’s 3-0 win against the Rangers, on the ice for 13 shot attempts for and two against (86.7 SAT%)…In Saturday’s 3-2 loss at Arizona, Kings forwards Trevor Lewis and Vincent Lecavalier dominated play (12 for, 2 against, 85.7 SAT%) when they were on the ice together. Lecavalier also scored Sunday, his fourth goal in the past six games.

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Panthers G Roberto Luongo had a 27-save shutout in Friday’s 4-0 win vs. Chicago, then turned away 38 of 40 shots in Saturday’s 5-2 win against Tampa Bay…Senators G Craig Anderson had a 35-save shutout in Sunday’s 3-0 win against the Rangers; he had an .882 save percentage in his previous eight games…Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist stopped 30 of 31 shots in Friday’s 4-1 win at Carolina then 30 of 32 shots in Sunday’s loss to Ottawa. He’s emerging from a slump with a .945 save percentage in his past six starts…Red Wings G Petr Mrazek recorded a 19-save shutout in a 3-0 win at Buffalo Friday, and has a .932 save percentage in 32 games…Sabres G Robin Lehner turned aside 42 of 44 shots in the loss, and has a .934 save percentage in four games this year…Blues G Brian Elliott had 40 saves on 41 shots in Friday’s 2-1 shootout loss at Colorado, then stopped 23 of 25 in Sunday's 2-0 loss at Chicago; he has a .937 save percentage in the past 18 games…Avalanche G Semyon Varlamov stopped 33 of 34 shots in Friday’s win then followed that with 42 saves on 43 shots in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Dallas. He has a .972 save percentage in his past four games.

FANTASY FOCUS

Productive players that still remain available in more than half of TSN leagues:

Sam Bennett – The Flames rookie has eight goals in the past six games, but that comes on the heels of an 18-game goal-scoring drought, so there are some doubters. Owned: 44.2%

Jakob Silfverberg – After starting the year with six points in the first 39 games, he’s starting to bounce back with nine points (3 G, 6 A) in the past seven games. Owned: 36.9%

Andrew Shaw – Skating on the wing with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa has increased Shaw’s value, and he’s put up eight points (3 G, 5 A) in the past nine games. Owned: 18.2%

Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, stats.hockeyanalysis.com www.hockey-reference and www.naturalstattrick.com

Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca