A strong first two periods helped the Blue Jackets survive a third-period push from the Sharks before van Riemsdyk found the empty net.

The Blue Jackets jumped up by three goals, which was too much for the struggling Sharks. The Jackets would put away San Jose 4-1.

Zach Werenski climbs higher, the Blue Jackets are watching the standings closer and the San Jose Sharks were overmatched: 3 takeaways

COLUMBUS -- James van Riemsdyk scored twice, and Zach Werenski extended his home point streak to 18 games when the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-1 at Nationwide Arena on Thursday for their sixth straight win.

On Dec. 18, the Blue Jackets ranked 26th in the NHL standings and trailed a wild-card spot by five points. After dropping eight of their last nine games, the playoffs seemed increasingly out of reach. They have gone 9-3 ever since.

A case of mistaken identity, thoughts on the Calgary Flames surprising season as well as that of the Columbus Blue Jackets (including defenseman Zach Werenski) and a visit from Vegas Golden Knights Spanish broadcaster Jesus Lopez is all featured in this week's episode of "NHL Unscripted with Virk and Demers" podcast presented by iHeartPodcasts.

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James van Riemsdyk scored twice and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Thursday night to extend their win streak to six games — their longest since January 2020. Kent Johnson had a goal and an assist and Adam Fantilli scored a goal to stretch his point streak to

From an EDGE stats standpoint, Marchenko checks many boxes that explain his full-fledged breakout season after leading Columbus in goals last season (23 in 78 games); he’s their best in the category again and on pace for 32 goals (18 in first 45 games). He is among the forward leaders in the following categories:

A weekly gauge of the players who are controlling substantial buzz around the league. When a player is included on this list it may not be a good thing -- it means that they are capturing a large amount of the hockey world's attention.

Alex Ovechkin scored the overtime winner against Leevi Merilainen to pass Jaromir Jagr for a League record and gain ground on the NHL’s all-time goals leader Wayne Gretzky in The Gr8 Chase. The Capitals maintained top spot in the League standings over the second-place Jets,