Goals and points are among the last statistics you look for next to Craig Adams' name, especially on a Penguins team headlined by offensive stars.

Yet it doesn't necessarily take a Harvard graduate -- which Adams is -- to understand that those numbers work to some degree like a barometer for his overall performance as primarily a fourth-line forward whose task is to frustrate opposing players with extended time on the forecheck, and he's feeling his version of barometric pressure.

"I think if you do that consistently in the other team's end and you're cycling and you're putting pucks on the net, then you're going to create offense and you're going to get points," Adams said this week. "I think it's indicative that I haven't been doing that enough -- or effectively."

Going into an afternoon game Saturday at Montreal, Adams has eight assists -- none in the past 24 games, dating to Dec. 12. Although he had three goals in the Penguins' Stanley Cup playoff run last spring, he has not scored in the regular season in 86 games, since Dec. 16, 2008.

Through 564 NHL games, Adams, 32, has 98 points. Closing that gap to 100 has been a waiting game.

"I'm trying to put pressure on myself to contribute offensively. It's not happening," said Adams, who hit a high-water mark with the 2005-06 Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes when he had 10 goals and 11 assists.

"The last couple of seasons haven't been good offensively for me. Before that, I had a few years where I felt like I was contributing offensively here and there. I need to do it more."

Adams, who was claimed off waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks at the March trade deadline in 2009, has had a parade of linemates on the fourth unit because of injury. He also has moved off that line at times. At practice Wednesday, he centered the third line between Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy.

As a defensive forward, Adams is a regular penalty-killer for the Penguins and can be rugged for his 6-foot, 197-pound frame.

"He's an energetic guy who has proven this year that whatever the task might be -- whether that's standing up for his teammates or standing up for himself or blocking a shot, sacrificing his body -- he's willing to do all that," Cooke said. "You need those type of guys to win."

Adams is fairly quiet in the locker room but picks his spots to make his teammates laugh.

"Everybody's got their own flavor of humor, and his is a little more dry, but his is pretty funny," said forward Mike Rupp, a frequent linemate.

Often, it's sarcasm. Other times, it's a little more direct, such as the time in September when the Penguins were returning from a preseason game in Canada and players were waiting in line in the wee hours to pass through customs in a building at Pittsburgh International Airport.

Sidney Crosby already had taken some ribbing for his frizzier-than-normal hair, and while Crosby was at the customs window Adams couldn't resist. He ran his fingers through the captain's hair. "Oooh, that's nice," Adams said.

Usually, Adams stays more under the radar.

"Every hockey team needs players like Craig -- guys who do the intangibles, things that don't necessarily make it on the score sheet," Rupp said.

Adams does have some documentable statistics. Averaging 11:21 of ice time, he is third among Penguins forwards with 37 blocked shots and, probably more impressive, is ranked 25th in the NHL going into Thursday's action with 140 hits while playing fewer minutes -- in some cases far fewer minutes -- than all but two of the players ahead of him. Those hits are almost always a product of his forechecking, lining up a defenseman after the Penguins dump the puck in or bumping a forward off the puck.

"It's always the way I've played," Adams said. "It's fun for me. My philosophy is, if you're going to skate 180 feet to get there, you may as well finish your check, not turn around at the last second.

"If I'm skating well and I'm moving my feet and I'm reading the play well, then those hits will be there for me."

More of that type of solid defensive work should lead to scoring chances for him or his linemates.

He can see it now: "It's going to be from 2 feet away," Adams said. "That's the way my goals and assists are going to come. They're not going to come off the rush."

NOTE -- The Penguins had their second day off in three days Thursday.

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