With the Blue Jackets' offense heating up, they're making noise in another category.
You may not have noticed this at first, but now, the Blue Jackets lead the NHL in 20-goal scorers with seven. They entered Saturday night's game in Nashville tied with the Washington Capitals, who have six, but Oliver Bjorkstrand's goal late in the first period gave him 20 on the year.
It's another feather in the cap for a deep, talented Blue Jackets team that is playing its best hockey of the season at the most important time of the season.
They earned a fourth straight win with a 5-2 win over the Predators at Bridgestone Arena, a night highlighted by four assists from the stick of Artemi Panarin and two Cam Atkinson goals, but it was Bjorkstrand who put them over the top in this regard.
| PLAYER | GP | G | A | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAM ATKINSON | 76 | 41 | 27 | 68 |
| MATT DUCHENE | 69 | 30 | 39 | 60 |
| ARTEMI PANARIN | 75 | 27 | 56 | 83 |
| JOSH ANDERSON | 78 | 26 | 19 | 45 |
| RYAN DZINGEL | 74 | 25 | 28 | 53 |
| PIERRE-LUC DUBOIS | 78 | 24 | 32 | 56 |
| OLIVER BJORKSTRAND | 73 | 20 | 11 | 31 |
Not only have many of these guys been consistent scorers all year, but they have a few (Bjorkstrand and Panarin the most recent examples) who are heating up down the stretch – and the Blue Jackets need all the scoring they can get. After Saturday's win, they've scored 20 goals in their last five games and shown glimpses of the offensively depth they thought they had after the trade deadline.
NOTE: For some reason, the NHL separates scoring for players who were traded. Matt Duchene has 30 goals this season and Ryan Dzingel has 25, but viewing these numbers on NHL.com, you'll only see their Columbus stats. They are, confirmed, 20-goal scorers.
John Tortorella is using all four of his lines and now has his top players coming around, which is only good news for the Blue Jackets as they try to hold off the Montreal Canadiens and lock down a playoff spot with one week left.