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.

Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko scored in the shootout as the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Tuesday night.

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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.

While the Columbus Blue Jackets can enjoy the view when they glance at the NHL standings, the New York Rangers find themselves bunched with several teams below the playoff line.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have announced today that they have signed defenseman Jake Christiansen to a two-year contract extension. The contract will be worth $1.95 million, or $975,000 AAV. Christiansen has played in all 45 games for Columbus this season. He has scored 1 goal and totaled 7 points and is a plus-4 while averaging 13:07 TOI.

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.