e returning home to host Detroit on Jan. 8. . . The Pacers beat Toronto 91-84 in Indi

Another young Lightning forward lights the lamp and a Nashville veteran is on a roll; lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. Michael A. Taylor Jersey . HEROES Cedric Paquette – The Lightning centre had a hat trick in a 5-1 win over Detroit, giving him eight points (4 G, 4 A) in the past nine games. Paquette isn’t a huge scorer, but is earning a bigger role, playing 14:49 per game in January (13:26 in December, 11:35 in October/November). Mike Fisher – After scoring two goals and an assist in a 5-4 shootout loss at St. Louis, the Predators centre now has 10 points (6 G, 4 A) in the past nine games. With 21 points (11 G, 10 A) in 26 games thjis season, Fisher is scoring at a career-best rate of 0.81 points per game. While some of that is attributable to his career-high shooting percentage (19.0%) and power-play production (five PP goals), Fisher’s on-ice shooting percentage (8.8%) is pretty standard, even a little below-average for his time in Nashville. Matt Fraser, Anton Lander – Both Oilers forwards had a goal and two assists in a 3-2 win against Buffalo. In 12 games with the Oilers, Fraser has seven points (3 G, 4 A) while Lander has seven points (1 G, 6 A) in the past 10 games. ZEROES Carl Hagelin – The speedy Rangers winger was buried in the defensive zone (4 shot attempts for, 20 against, 16.7%) at even strength against the Canadiens. Brendan Smith, Xavier Ouellet – The Red Wings’ defence pairing was on for three even-strength goals against, with sub-40% puck possession in a 5-1 loss at Tampa Bay, getting beat up by the line of Paquette, Jonathan Drouin and Alex Killorn. Goalies: Ilya Bryzgalov – Surrendered six goals on 25 shots in Anaheim’s 6-2 loss at San Jose. In five games this season, Bryzgalov has stopped 89 of 107 shots (.832 SV%), which isn’t offering much relief for starter Frederik Andersen. Petr Mrazek – The Red Wings goaltender allowed five goals on 15 shots in a 5-1 loss to Tampa Bay. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Patrik Berglund, Jori Lehtera – Both Blues forwards left Thursday’s win over Nashville with injuries. While we await updates, the Blues have recalled Ty Rattie from the AHL, where he had 28 points (17 G, 11 A) and 135 shots on goal in 43 games. Joffrey Lupul – Returned to the Maple Leafs lineup for the first time since suffering a lower-body injury on December 31. He played only 10:30, his second-lowest ice time of the season (ahead of the previous game when he was injured) and failed to get a shot on goal. Chris VandeVelde – The Flyers winger played 15:02 against Winnipeg – the second time in 38 games that he surpassed 15 minutes – and scored a goal, his fourth in the past five games. Mattias Ekholm – Played a career-high 24:44 on the Predators blueline in a 5-4 shootout loss at St. Louis. David Legwand – The veteran centre has been a healthy scratch in back-to-back games for the Senators. His ice time has been falling, to 8:33 the last game he dressed, but he’s also put up five points (1 G, 4 A) in his past six games. SHORT SHIFTS Bruins C David Krejci had a pair of assists in a 5-2 win at the Islanders; he has 13 points (2 G, 11 A) in the past 13 games…Bruins LW Milan Lucic had a goal and two assists and has 10 points (5 G, 5 A) in the past nine games…Islanders C John Tavares had a goal and an assist, with nine shots on goal, in the loss, giving him nine points (4 G, 5 A) during a five-game point streak…Jets LW Mathieu Perreault scored both Winnipeg goals in a 5-2 loss at Philadelphia. In his past eight games, Perreault has 11 points (8 G, 3 A)…Stars LW Jamie Benn scored a pair of goals in a 6-3 win at Ottawa; giving him eight points (4 G, 4 A) in the past five games…Stars D John Klingberg picked up a goal and an assist, and has seven points (3 G, 4 A) in the past seven games…Senators RW Bobby Ryan had a goal and an assist in a 6-3 loss to Dallas, giving him nine points (2 G, 7 A) in the past eight games… …Sharks LW Patrick Marleau had a goal and an assist in a 6-3 win against Anaheim, giving him seven points (3 G, 4 A) in the past five games…Sharks C Joe Thornton had two assists, and has 17 points (3 G, 14 A) in the past 16 games. Jets LW Evander Kane had 11 shot attempts (7 SOG) and positive possession (20 shot attempts for, 15 against, 57.1%), but was on the ice for three even-strength Flyers goals against, and none for, in a 5-2 loss…In his first game with St. Louis, C Marcel Goc had solid possession stats (10 shot attempts for, 4 against, 71.4%)…Oilers defencemen Oscar Klefbom (30 shot attempts for, 6 against, 83.3%) and Justin Schultz (27 shot attempts for, 7 against, 79.4%) had Edmonton’s best possession stats, and were on the ice for all three goals for and none against, in a 3-2 win over Buffalo. Canadiens G Carey Price had a 24-save shutout and Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist stopped 25 of 26 shots in a 1-0 Montreal win…Bruins G Tuukka Rask stopped 43 of 45 shots in a 5-2 win at the Islanders…Flyers G Steve Mason stopped 36 of 38 shots in a 5-2 win vs. Winnipeg…Lightning G Ben Bishop turned aside 27 of 28 shots in a 5-1 win vs. Detroit…Wild G Devan Dubnyk had a 30-save shutout and Flames G Jonas Hiller stopped 31 of 32 shots in a 1-0 win for Minnesota. MINOR TRADE Adam Clendening – A second-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2011, the 22-year-old right-shot blueliner made his NHL debut earlier this season and recorded two points (1 G, 1 A), with subpar possession (48.7% of even-strength shot attempts) in four games for Chicago. He also hasn’t been as productive (1 G, 12 A) in 38 AHL games this season, but has a track record that included 105 points in 147 AHL games over the past two seasons. He should get a shot to play immediately in Vancouver while Kevin Bieksa is out of the lineup. Gustav Forsling – A fifth-round pick of Vancouver last summer, Forsling was named to the All-Tournament team at the World Junior Hockey Championship, after leading all defencemen with eight points (3 G, 5 A) in seven games. He’s 18-years-old, but is playing regularly (17:51 per game), putting up five points (3 G, 2 A) in 35 games for Linkoping in the Swedish League. FIRSTS Josh Anderson – The Blue Jackets winger picked up an assist for his first NHL point, in his sixth game, a 3-2 loss at Florida. He’s played 13 minutes or more in four of the past five games, but has since been assigned to Springfield of the AHL. Petr Straka – The Flyers rookie right winger picked up his first NHL point, in his second NHL game, assisting on Nick Schultz’s game-winning goal in a 5-2 win over Winnipeg. FANTASY FOCUS With five games on the schedule tonight, here are five players to consider for your lineup: Adam Larsson – Getting a new lease on life with a new coach in New Jersey, Larsson has six points (1 G, 5 A) in the past eight games, playing more than 20 minutes in all eight of those games. Victor Rask – Skating with Nathan Gerbe and Elias Lindholm, Rask has six points (2 G, 4 A) in the past eight games, the rookie offering some secondary scoring for the improving Hurricanes. Zach Redmond – He goes from being out of the Avalanche lineup to playing 22:31 last game with Erik Johnson out. A puck-moving defenceman, Redmond has 11 points (4 G, 7 A) in 27 games. Nick Bonino – Vancouver’s supporting cast hasn’t done much lately and Bonino has all of five points (3 G, 2 A) in the past 23 games, but they’re hosting the Sabres tonight, so a good night to get on the board. Rickard Rakell – The rookie centre is starting to emerge as a solid complementary player, putting up eight points (3 G, 5 A) in the past seven 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 Austen Williams Nationals Jersey . Auld made 37 saves in a 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday. It was Ottawas first game without starter Anderson, who is out indefinitely after cutting his hand Wednesday night, and it was evident the team wasnt sure how to deal with the change in goal. Carter Kieboom Nationals Jersey . The Brazilian driver had the second-best time in last months tests at Jerez and said the "good start" could play to his advantage when the season gets underway in Australia in March. https://www.cheapnationals.com/637r-spencer-kieboom-jersey-nationals.html . The 30-year-old Kottaras served as Kansas Citys backup catcher last season after being claimed off waivers from Oakland in January.TORONTO -- If the league-leading Indiana Pacers provided the perfect gauge for just how much the Toronto Raptors have improved, the answer was: plenty. DeMar DeRozan poured in 26 points to lead the red-hot Raptors to a resounding 95-82 win over Indiana on Wednesday, handing the Pacers just their sixth loss of the season. "We work extremely hard every day so that we understand that if we go out there and play with the same intensity that we do in practice, when were going at each other, we can beat anybody," DeRozan said. "Thats the mindset that we go in with when we play these opponents." The Raptors victory was their fourth in a row, eighth in their last 10 outings, and ninth in 12 games since the trade that sent Rudy Gay to the Sacramento Kings. Toronto also snapped Indianas five-game winning streak. Terrence Ross added 18 points for Toronto (15-15), while Kyle Lowry had a season-high 14 assists to go with 13 points, and Jonas Valanciunas scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds. "Everybody is playing for each other, nobody has any secret agendas, everybody wants the same goal," Ross said. "Were all on the same page, and thats something were getting better at." Raptors coach Dwane Casey had talked before the game about the chance for his players to test themselves against the best in the league, to see how much theyd improved and how far they still had to go. "We did a good job, the guys battled," Casey said afterward. "We came in hungry and fought for 48 minutes, stayed with the game plan and executed." Roy Hibbert scored 16 for the Pacers (25-6) before fouling out with 3:25 to go, while Paul George added 12 and Danny Granger finished with 11. The Raptors confidence was soaring going into Wednesdays game, and just a night earlier they were down by five heading into the fourth quarter at Chicago before rallying for an 85-79 victory over the Bulls. Theyd shown more fight in the past couple of weeks than in recent memory, and were making a habit of fourth-quarter comebacks. But they didnt need one Wednesday. The Raptors led by as much as nine points against a Pacers team that came into the game with a 9-0 record against Atlantic Division opponents, and fought back from a Pacers rally to lead 66-63 going into the fourth quarter. They found another gear down the stretch. Back-to-back buckets by DeRozan then a steal by Ross that turned into a Lowry basket with 2:54 to play had the crowd on its feet screaming and put Toronto up by 11. Affterward, Pacers guard George Hill said the Raptors "beat us at our own game. Gerardo Parra Nationals Jersey. ." "They played better than us tonight," Hill said. "Normally we come out and have a tremendous third and fourth quarter but tonight they hit first." The thrilled Air Canada Centre crowd of 18,271 stood and cheered the Raptors off the floor after the final buzzer. The Raptors won with crisp ball movement, doling out 27 assists on 34 made field goals, against one of the best defensive teams in the league. They were also solid on defence. "It says a lot," DeRozan said on his teams defensive effort. "Were going to go out there and battle with the best of them night in and night out. We dont care who you throw out there in front of us, were understand theyre going to throw a punch, and were going to throw punches back." Lowry led the way in defensive play -- the point guard who tops the team in taking charges took one on Hibberts sixth foul. "You just sacrifice yourself for the benefit of the team. Thats what were all doing out here, sacrificing themselves and their game to be a better team," Lowry said. The players praised the noisy crowd that was on its feet for the final few minutes. "Honestly, it was probably the best crowd Ive seen since opening night of last year," Lowry said. "Thats what we need in this building. We want our fans to have a reason to cheer, and I think were giving them a reason to cheer." The Raptors opened with one of the best all-around quarters of the season, with 10 assists on 11 made field goals. They fell behind by six early but outscored the Pacers 24-8 to the end of the quarter to lead 26-18 heading into the second. A three-pointer by Raptors newcomer Greivis Vasquez gave Toronto a nine-point lead early in the second, but the Pacers parlayed 10 Raptors turnovers into nine points, and Indiana took a 44-40 lead into the dressing room at the break. The Pacers were the ones turning the ball over in the third, with the Raptors scoring 14 points on seven Indiana giveaways. Tyler Hansbrough tied the game with a dunk with 1:08 left in the quarter, then John Salmons drained a three to send the Raptors into the fourth up by three points. NOTES: The Raptors are in Washington on Friday to open a three-game road trip against three tough Eastern Conference teams. Theyll play at Miami on Sunday, then Indiana on Tuesday before returning home to host Detroit on Jan. 8. . . The Pacers beat Toronto 91-84 in Indiana on Nov. 8. ' ' '