James van Riemsdyk scored twice, leading the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-1 victory over the visiting San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.

Tyler Toffoli scored and Alexandar Georgiev stopped 30 shots, but their San Jose Sharks fell 4-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets in Ohio on Thursday night.

Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic will play in his 1,300th NHL game Thursday when the San Jose Sharks face the Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets sport one of the NHL's best home records at 15-5-3 and score a blistering 4.20 goals per game. The Sharks are the polar opposite of the CBJ on the road. They're 6-12-5 and are scoring 2.61 gpg.

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

Welcome back to NHL Predictions! Tonight, the San Jose Sharks take on one of the surprise teams in the league, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Today, like every day, Last Word on Hockey looks at the games happening and gives our predictions for each one,

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.

Jason Newland is the Site Editor and Reporter for the Columbus Blue Jackets team site with The Hockey News. A resident of Columbus, Jason has spent 10 years writing about the Blue Jackets and in his spare time hangs with his son Trevor, plays softball, and watches all sports. You can follow him at @F1reTheCannon.

New York Islanders forward Maxim Tsyplakov was suspended for three games without pay on Friday for an illegal check to the head of Philadelphia Flyers forward Ryan Poehling.

- The Sharks are in eighth place in the Pacific Division with 34 points and a record of 14-27-6. San Jose is 1-4-0 in their last five games. - Mikael Granlund leads the Sharks in assists (25) and points (37) in his second season with San Jose.

A perfect three-game road trip convinced the New York Islanders they were on the verge of mounting another midseason push for a playoff berth.