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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

As the team wins more and more, the Blue Jackets have shot up the NHL standings. After the win against San Jose, they now sit in the first wild card spot and are just five points back of Carolina, who they face Jan. 23 during this upcoming road trip, for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

They didn’t get to six goals, but the Blue Jackets did move into the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference over the Boston Bruins by extending their season-high winning streak to six straight games Thursday at Nationwide Arena.

The Blue Jackets 'mucked' it up with Tortorella's Flyers to win by shootout on Marchenko's borrowed move from Texier: 3 takeaways

Columbus Blue Jackets alternate captain Zach Werenski is leading the NHL in goals among defensemen this season.

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

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.