While the Columbus Blue Jackets’ winning streak has ended, it doesn’t mean we can’t remember their streak fondly. It was one of the most improbable runs in the salary cap era of the NHL.
While in the grand scheme of the season it may not mean much, many are hoping that it can elevate the team to a level that many of their fans have been hoping for since they joined the league back in 2000.
The Blue Jackets had to rely on skill and a fair amount of luck to get them through the streak and they had more than a few interesting stats during their run. These are some of the best during that time.
7
That was the number of players who scored 11 or more points during the streak. It is a nearly unheard of amount of scoring during that time. While this isn’t the dead puck era of hockey, scoring is down like crazy and it’s extremely difficult to score. Leading the way on the scoring front was Cam Atkinson who scored 18 points during the 16-game winning streak. He had always been a great scorer in the NHL and it seems like he is starting to put it all together at the right time.
10,366
At the beginning of the Blue Jackets streak, this was the attendance for their game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Jackets at the beginning of this streak were 12-5-4 – not a terrible start by any stretch but they weren’t grabbing any headlines around the league.
By the end of the streak they had multiple sellouts including an anticipated one against the New York Rangers on January 7th. The increase in attendance may not seem important to some, but it was critical for the Blue Jackets. Getting those fans back was an important part of this streak. They should now have a new level of support from here through the end of the season.
20.4%
This was the Blue Jackets’ power play percentage during their streak. Many around the league want to point to how unsustainable the streak was due to inflated statistics, but the power play number may show the streak might have been a bit more sustainable than some think.
On the season they are at 27%, leaders by almost four percentage points. They relied on those numbers prior to the streak and were at a much more manageable number during the streak itself. They were still above the league average, but it just goes to show that the team may have not been all smoke and mirrors like many want to claim. Seeing how they perform against the many detractors should be a great subplot in the months ahead.
