Before December 9th, it looked like Oliver Bjorkstrand had just been unlucky.
The talented Danish forward was getting great looks on opposing goaltenders but couldn't find the back of the net. It seemed that if luck started going in favor of Bjorkstrand, he'd be unstoppable.
And, well, he's been pretty darn close to it.
Bjorkstrand has had an incredible streak of games, scoring 6 goals in 7 games since December 9th, and now co-leads the team (with Pierre-Luc Dubois) with 12 on the season. This figure also means the 24-year-old forward has doubled his goals for the year in the last 13 calendar days.
Over the course of December so far, he has not only been one of the best goal-scoring forwards on the Blue Jackets but the entire NHL. Since 12/1, Bjorkstand's 6 goals rank tied for 9th in the National Hockey League in that span. He's in elite company with those numbers, Leon Draisaitl, Patrick Kane, and Steven Stamkos also have 6 goals since the start of December.
However, an interesting fact about Bjorkstrand's streak in relation to other hot goal scorers is the lack of power-play goals. Of all the players in the NHL's top 10 in goals since December 1st, Bjorkstrand is the only player to have all his goals scored at even strength. While it may be good for the team to see more scoring with the man advantage, the ability to score at 5-on-5 is never underappreciated.
Unfortunately for the Blue Jackets and Bjorkstrand, the hot streak may have to take a hiatus.
In the third period of Saturday's game against the New Jersey Devils, Bjorkstrand left the ice with an apparent injury suffered from a cross-check from Devils defenseman, Damon Severson.
Since the conclusion of Saturday's game, there have been no updates on Bjorkstrand's status.
If he is sidelined for any amount of time, it would be a great loss for a team already ravaged by injury. But it would be especially unfortunate because of how great Bjorkstand's play has been of late.
