TuneIn_16x9_STATIC (0-00-05-24)

BLUE JACKETS (21-17-6) vs. SHARKS (14-26-6), 7 PM, NATIONWIDE ARENA

COLUMBUS, 4th in Metropolitan
SAN JOSE, 8th in Pacific

The Blue Jackets are starting to do things we haven’t seen in a while.

For example, Columbus occupies a playoff position in January for the first time in years, thanks in part to their first five-game winning streak since Jan. 11-22, 2020.

But perhaps the most encouraging sign has come in the way the Blue Jackets have won the last three games. Columbus has allowed just five goals in that span, marking the first time the Jackets have allowed two or fewer goals in three straight games since March 14-20, 2021.

The latest victory, Tuesday night’s 3-2 shootout triumph over Philadelphia, was a bit of a slog the entire way – a “grinding, in the mud” game, as head coach Dean Evason said – but the Blue Jackets stuck with it and got the two points.

“It’s nice for the guys to get reinforced with having success and being excited about playing different ways,” Evason said. “Whatever way the game dictates, we have some knowledge and some feedback now that we can play like this. If it’s going to be a mucky game like it was last night, well, OK. If it’s going to be a little bit more of a skill game, we can play that, but at the end of the day we have to play how we play in order to have success.”

Another aspect of the win against Philadelphia that stands out is that it took a comeback to do it. The Blue Jackets are used to playing from ahead – they lead the NHL by scoring the first goal 27 times – but on this night, they responded to a 2-1 deficit in the third period by tying the game in the final five minutes.

It was the fourth third-period comeback win of the season for Columbus and the second of the winning streak, and Zach Werenski said the key is the lack of panic on the CBJ bench.

“We just stuck to our game plan,” said Werenski, who scored both goals in regulation. “We obviously know we can score goals in here. We have a lot of skill and guys who can make plays. It’s one of those things where you can’t change your game plan and try to do it yourself. We stuck to the plan and once we got our chance there, we found a way to make it count. I think our group is realizing that we have to stick to our game for 60 minutes and good things are going to happen.”

Columbus will try to extend the winning streak to six tonight against San Jose.

“It’s fun, and I think everybody wants to do that again and again,” Kirill Marchenko said of the streak. “We need to keep going.”

Know The Foe: San Jose Sharks

Head coach: Ryan Warsofsky (First season)

Team stats: Goals per game: 2.61 (28th) | Scoring defense: 3.41 (28th) | PP: 18.5 percent (23rd) | PK: 78.6 percent (18th)

The narrative: San Jose made the playoffs 19 of 21 seasons from 1998-2019, but the rebuild is fully on in Silicon Valley. You could certainly do worse, though, than the team’s top draft picks each of the past two years, as the Sharks took Macklin Celebrini with the No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s draft and talented forward Will Smith at No. 4 in 2023. Fellow attackers William Eklund and Thomas Bordeleau were also taken high in recent drafts, and all four are starting to make an impact with the Sharks.

Team leaders: While there’s a bunch of young talent on the roster, a veteran that leads the way in Mikael Granlund, as the Swedish center in his 13th NHL season has 12 goals and 37 points on the season. Now in his second full season, the 22-year-old Eklund is next with a 10-24-34 line, while Celebrini is posting nearly a point per game (13-18-31 in 34 games) in his rookie campaign to be firmly in the Calder Trophy race. Tyler Toffoli has a team-best 16 goals, while Jake Walman leads the defense with 26 points.

In net, Mackenzie Blackwood and Vitek Vanecek have a combined 30 starts, but neither is on the active roster as Blackwood was traded to Colorado and Vanecek is on IR. Acquired from the Avs, Alexandar Georgiev is 2-6-0 with a 3.56 GAA and .887 save percentage, while rookie Yaroslav Askarov was added from Nashville this offseason and is 3-3-2 with a 2.39 GAA and .917 save percentage.

What's new: There have been some brutal stretches for San Jose at times this season, including an 0-7-2 start and a 2-9-2 record in December, but the Sharks can be a tough out with recent wins over Tampa Bay, New Jersey and Detroit. Captain Logan Couture has been out all season, but the Sharks have brought in a cadre of veterans to try to help bring the youngsters along, while first-year coach Warsofsky was promoted from an assistant’s role to lead the charge.

Trending: Columbus had won four games in a row in the series before a 2-1 loss in overtime Nov. 5 in San Jose in which the Blue Jackets put 50 shots on goal.

Former CBJ: Now 30, Alexander Wennberg has landed in the Bay Area and has an 8-13-21 line so far on the campaign including the game-winning goal in the first matchup between the teams.

Projected CBJ Lineup (Subject to change)

LW 10 Dmitri Voronkov
C 19 Adam Fantilli
RW 86 Kirill Marchenko
LW 21 James van Riemsdyk
C 65 Luca Del Bel Belluz
RW 91 Kent Johnson
LW 27 Zach Aston-Reese
C 4 Cole Sillinger
RW 24 Mathieu Olivier
LW 82 Mikael Pyyhtia
C 7 Sean Kuraly
RW 62 Kevin Labanc
LD 8 Zach Werenski
RD 15 Dante Fabbro
G 90 Elvis Merzlikins
LD 5 Denton Mateychuk
RD 9 Ivan Provorov
G 40 Daniil Tarasov
LD 2 Jake Christiansen
RD 78 Damon Severson

Scratches: Jordan Harris, Jack Johnson

Injured reserve, Injured/Non-Roster list: Sean Monahan (upper body), Justin Danforth (lower body), Yegor Chinakhov (upper body), Erik Gudbranson (upper body), Boone Jenner (upper body)

Roster Report: Merzlikins will get the start in net against the Sharks while the 18-skater lineup will remain the same, though Sillinger and Del Bel Belluz are set to switch spots.

The Numbers Game

With 50 points, Zach Werenski has the most ever for a CBJ player through the team’s first 44 games of a season, while Kirill Marchenko (48) is tied for second. Artemi Panarin previously held the franchise record with 48 in 2018-19. … Werenski has a 12-28-40 line in the last 29 games to place third in the NHL in scoring in that span and has 18 points (4-14-18) in the past 10 games as well as a 17-game home point streak, longest in the NHL since Ray Bourque in 1992-93. His average ice time of 26:40 leads all NHL players, and he’s first among league defensemen in goals (15) and tied for first in points on the season. ... Marchenko has a five-game point streak, an 8-13-21 line in the last 15 games and 32 points in the last 25 (12-20-32). ... Dmitri Voronkov has 18 points (10-8-18) in the last 14 games and leads the NHL with nine goals since Dec. 19. ... Also since Dec. 19, Werenski is second in the NHL with 19 points, Marchenko is tied for sixth with 17 and Voronkov is tied for ninth with 16. ... Adam Fantilli has a career-best six-game point streak (3-4-7), tied for the second longest ever for a CBJ player under age 20. ... Columbus leads the NHL with 94 home goals and is second with 104 goals at 5-on-5, and their 3.36 goals per game are fifth in the league. In addition, Columbus has scored at least six goals 10 times in just 44 games this season, one shy of a franchise record (2018-19). ... Columbus has power-play goals in 13 of the last 18 games (16 for 46, 34.8 percent) and is now tied for ninth in the NHL for the season in power-play percentage at 23.9. ... Blue Jackets defensemen have 30 goals this season, most in the NHL. ... Cole Sillinger is three points from 100 in his NHL career.

This Day in CBJ History

Jan. 16, 2002: Marc Denis notches his first shutout as a Blue Jacket, turning aside 31 shots in a 2-0 win vs. the New York Rangers in Nationwide Arena. Grant Marshall has a goal and an assist while Tyler Wright also scores.

Jan. 16, 2004: Rick Nash scores his third career overtime goal, his second tally of the game, as the Blue Jackets take a 3-2 win vs. Los Angeles at Nationwide Arena.

Jan. 16, 2007: Jason Chimera tallies in overtime to give Columbus a 5-4 OT win at Chicago. Fredrik Modin has a goal and an assist while Sergei Fedorov, Rostislav Klesla and Joe Motzko tally; Motzko’s goal was his only as a Blue Jacket.

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