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

Daniil Tarasov's 27 saves get the Blue Jackets a point, but Igor Shesterkin's brilliance nets the Rangers a big win at Madison Square Garden.

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.

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.

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

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.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers met for the first time this season Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers entered the game five points behind the Blue Jackets in the standings right in the thick of the wildcard race in the Eastern Conference.

Igor Shesterkin was flawless on Saturday night, and the New York Rangers needed him to be just that in a 1-0 shootout victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Madison Square Garden.

Daniil Tarasov made 26 saves, including stopping Mika Zibanejad twice on breakaways in overtime, at 1:25 and again with 17 seconds left, but the Blue Jackets (22-17-4) lost for the first time since Jan. 2, ending their six-game winning streak.

The 26-year-old, who was traded to the nation's capital from the Ottawa Senators during the offseason, scored his 13th goal of the season on a rocket of a shot from the blue line to beat Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Joel Blomqvist.