By Paul Bruno
January 13, 2009 11:31am CST

A number of lesser lights have stepped up to fill in for injured teammates and some may stick in those roles. Keep an eye on them and others who are playing well during a tough part of the season. They may secure these expanded roles for the rest of the schedule.

Atlanta – Todd White has been a consistent offensive contributor all year and last week, with a goal and five assists, was no exception. Ron Hainsey has proven to be a mainstay in providing a start to most of the offensive push from the Thrasher rearguard. He possesses that most important trait among offensively-inclined defensemen: the good first pass out of the defensive zone. Brian Little has missed three games and is still nursing a rib injury, making him a risky play this week.

Boston – After losing 1-0 to the Wild, the Bruins scored 11 times to win two games. David Krejci led that onslaught with two goals and three assists. Michael Ryder continued his offensive flurry with three more goals and an assist. The Bruins have been dealt three pieces of bad news on their injury list, as Marco Sturm may miss the rest of the year with a right knee injury, while Manny Fernandez and rugged Milan Lucic have been sidelined indefinitely with undisclosed injuries.

Buffalo – Drew Stafford is becoming more reliable as a decent fantasy option at right wing with another solid week that saw him produce four points. His efforts have pushed him to the top line. Derek Roy, who came up with five points, centers that unit alongside league-leading sniper Tomas Vanek. Ryan Miller is on a roll, winning four of his last five starts, allowing only nine goals out of 194 shots. His goals against is a career-low of 2.50 per game.

Carolina –Injuries to two starting blueliners (David Tanabe – concussion, and Tim Gleason- leg injury, questionable this week) have created an opportunity for others to step to the forefront last week. Anton Babchuk took advantage of added ice time to produce a goal and an assist to advance his own cause. Meanwhile, Joe Corvo, has struggled lately, scoring only one assist and posting a (-3) rating in his last five games. After a string of solid efforts in goal, Cam Ward stumbled in his last two starts, allowing six goals on only 42 shots.

Florida – Tomas Vokoun may once again, finally, have the inside track on the top goalie role after backstopping the Panthers to three wins last week. He was solid in giving up only eight goals on 91 shots. The diversified offense was led by Gregory Campbell, who had two goals, four assists. Ville Peltonen, another depth forward, fired three goals and two assists. Jay Bouwmeester continues to build his case during the run up to offseason contract negotiations and a possible trade deadline deal, as he tallied another two goals and an assist last week.

Montreal – Last week, Andrei Kostitsyn produced two goals and four assists, Robert Lang posted four goals and an assist, and Tomas Plekanec and Alexei Kovalev each produced two goals and two assists. Even defensemen Patrice Brisebois and Roman Hamrlik found ways to add to the offensive mix with four assists each last week. Jaroslav Halak has shouldered the goaltending load due to the knee injury of Carey Price, who is expected to be out until the All Star break. The Habs are hopeful of their captain, Saku Koivu, returning later this week, after recovering from his foot injury.

New Jersey – The Devils hit their first bump in the road since losing Martin Brodeur, due to his elbow injury, as they dropped three of four. They allowed 12 goals against, which is well above their season average. Kevin Weekes took over from a tired-looking Scott Clemmensen and led New Jersey to a 5-1 win over LA. He will likely get a chance to run with the starter’s role early this week. With nine points in his last six games, Patrik Elias is tied for the team scoring lead at 48 points (with Zach Parise). Despite recent struggles, the top six scorers all have rating of (+10) or better.

NY Islanders – Two more losses last week have the Isles buried in last place in the entire league, by a four-point margin. Remarkably, Mark Streit is second in the league in defensemen scoring with 33 points. Almost as notable is his (-3) rating on this poor club. Some good news may be on the horizon, as Doug Weight, who was the team’s leading scorer before he got hurt, and goalie Rick DiPietro, may both be back by the end of the week. Amid this wreckage, Kyle Okposo, has been given more playing time and responded with five points in the last six games.

NY Rangers – Paul Mara, primarily a defensive blueliner with the Rangers, took a page from his past offensive exploits to score twice and add an assist to pace the Rangers attack. Fellow blueliner Michal Rozsival matched that output with a goal ad two helpers. The best news on the week was that Henrik Lundqvist earned his first two shutouts of the season. Nikolai Zherdev is the only one of the Rangers’ top nine scorers with a positive rating (+9). The Rangers are the only NHL team to have a full and healthy roster.

Ottawa – Another three losses have dropped the Sens to the 14th spot in the East, and coach Craig Hartsburg showed lots of frustration in calling out Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson following one of those games. With Anton Volchenkov (shoulder) and Jarkko Ruutu (suspension) scheduled to return this week, the Sens hope to play a more physical style. Certainly, Chris Neil has been a miserable opponent for all opponents, but they need the Sens, as a whole, to display more toughness.

Philadelphia – Kimmo Timmonen is playing a truly pivotal role here, and he will have to continue to deliver as the primary offensive defenseman for the Flyers, just as he did last week, with his three assists and 25 minutes per game of ice time. The Daniel Briere watch continues, as he remains day-to-day entering this week. Scott Hartnell is entrenched as a top six forward, having grown into a potent power forward and scoring three more goals in his last six outings. Martin Biron has allowed only nine goals in his last five games, and will have to keep it up as Antero Nittymaki battles groin troubles.

Pittsburgh – Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each scored five points to last week snap out of mini slumps (by their standards, anyway). They have had to come up big in the face of injuries to Pascal Dupuis and Ruslan Fedotenko. Still, they lost three of four, being outscored 15 to nine along the way. They are now in fourth place in their division, in danger of falling out of the playoff race entirely, unless they can find support for their two superstars.

Tampa Bay – Vincent Lecavalier’s name may be in the news amid speculation of trade rumblings, yet the Bolts are playing better. They split a pair of one goal road games. Part of the improvement of late is due to improved defensive play. Andrej Meszaros has played his best hockey of the year over the past four games with two points and a (+2) rating. Along with Steve Eminger he has formed a formidable skilled blueline pairing that has earned more power-play time. Vaclav Prospal has picked things up offensively, totaling eight points in his last six games.

Toronto – After three lopsided losses last week, Leaf fortunes have taken a turn for the worse, because the scoring has declined, drawing attention to the substandard goalkeeping of Vesa Toskala. The Leafs have the poorest team save percentage in the NHL (.875). Veteran defender Jeff Finger, out with an upper body injury, joins Mike Van Ryn as the Leafs can’t seem to avoid a steady parade to the injury list. On the bright side, Matt Stajan returned to action o the top line.

Washington – Mike Green, on a weekly basis, has been an offensive force and last week he poured another 11 shots on goal in only three games. He also chipped in with two assists along the way. Four other Capital defenders are injured right now. The offensive production had been concentrated on the top unit, with Nicklas Backstrom feeding Alexander Ovechkin for many weeks. But, now they have a strong second unit as Alexander Semin (back from injury) and Michael Nylander will form the nucleus of a second scoring unit.