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.

COLUMBUS -- James van Riemsdyk scored twice, and Zach Werenski extended his home point streak to 18 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who won their sixth straight game with a 4-1 victory against the San Jose Sharks at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

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

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.

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

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

This wasn't the best of games by the Blue Jackets, but they fought back and defeated the Philadelphia Flyer 3-2 in a shootout.

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.

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

Werenski scored two goals in Tuesday's 3-2 shootout win over the Flyers.

The four-game, six-night venture begins tonight in Manhattan, as the Blue Jackets take on the New York Rangers before heading to take on the Islanders on Monday. From there, the wheels are up to Toronto for a Wednesday meeting before the trip ends a night later with a third division game Thursday in Carolina.