Blackhawks forward prospect Roman Kantserov was having a decent season in the KHL as of earlier this month. He had two goals and six assists in 13 games with Magnitogorsk Metallurg. After missing the start of the season due to shoulder surgery, the numbers seemed fine.

And then Kantserov took off.

He had three goals on Dec. 5. He scored two more goals his next game on Dec. 7. After a KHL break, he came back and had an assist on Dec. 18 and another on Dec. 20. In his last game on Dec. 23, he scored two more goals. If you lost count, he tallied seven goals and two assists in five games.

All of a sudden, his season total jumped to nine goals and eight assists in 18 games. As a KHL rookie last season, he had just eight goals and seven assists in 53 regular-season games (He did later produce 13 points in 23 playoff games).

Now he’s surpassed those numbers and put himself among the KHL’s top players. He’s played fewer games than the season leaders, but at 0.94 points per game, he’s second in the league among all players under the age of 25. You just don’t see what Kantserov is doing that often in the KHL, especially as a 20-year-old. There are four players currently averaging a point a game and the highest is 1.15 coming from a 31-year-old.

Which all leads to the question: What has gotten into Roman Kantserov lately?

The simple answer is it sounds like he’s feeling even better after having surgery on his left shoulder following Metallurg’s run to the Gagarin Cup last season. I talked to him shortly after his surgery in May.

The numbers reflect that, too. He’s been shooting more lately. He had 29 attempts in his last five games. He also had 18 shots on goal during that span. Overall, he’s putting more shots on net and converting them at a higher rate than last season: He averaged 1.7 shots on goal last season and is at 2.9 this season, and his shooting percentage is up from 8.9 last season to 17.3. It’s the type of progression the Blackhawks have to love to see in Kantserov’s second full season in the KHL. There were questions whether his game would translate from the MHL. He’s giving a clear answer on that.

Finally, let’s examine what Kantserov’s recent success has looked like.

Let’s start with the goal that began his run. On this play, he finishes off a two-on-one. It’s nothing fancy, but Kantserov does have a knack for understanding how to play odd-man situations and where to position himself.

Later in the game, Kantserov adds his second goal with a wrister from the left circle on the power play. He doesn’t have a really hard shot, but he is able to hit his spots. He’ll do it a few times in the coming highlights.

Kantserov’s hat trick in this game does deserve some context. Another of Kantserov’s teammates drew a penalty shot, but Metallurg opted to allow Kantserov to take it.

What might be most impressive about Kantserov’s production is that it’s not as if other teammates have been scoring much. After scoring three of Metallurg’s four goals on Dec. 3, he scored both of their two goals the next game.

This goal was another positive sign for the Blackhawks: He doesn’t mind getting to the net, and he tries to be opportunistic for rebounds.

Kantserov’s second goal of the game was another power-play goal from the left circle. He again appears to pick his spot. He could have actually had another hat trick, but missed a penalty shot.

We’ll now look at his two assists. The first one is a secondary assist, but he plays a key part in opening up space for his teammates. He also appears to have no worries about using that left shoulder.

The second assist is a primary one. Five of his eight assists this season have been primaries.

Kantserov’s next goal on Dec. 23 isn’t anything special, but he just puts himself where the defenders aren’t.

And here is Kantserov’s final goal of his streak — so far — as he scores an overtime game-winner: