The Blue Jackets’ spiral to the bottom of the NHL’s Eastern Conference continued Jan. 6 at SAP Center with a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks to start a four-game road trip.
Despite getting a strong effort from goalie Jet Greaves (31 saves) in his seventh straight start and outshooting the Sharks 18-9 in the third period, the Jackets dropped their second straight game while struggling to beat Sharks goalie Alex Nedeljkovic (34 saves).
Zach Werenski and Sean Monahan scored the only goals for the Blue Jackets (18-17-7), who pulled within a goal at 3-2 on Monahan’s goal late in the third before the Sharks sealed the win on empty-net goals by Mario Ferraro and Macklin Celebrini.
Former Blue Jackets center Alex Wennberg factored into three goals for the Sharks (21-18-3), setting up two with assists and scoring a power-play goal for a 2-0 lead in the second. Pavol Regenda and Zack Ostapchuk scored the other two San Jose goals.
Shots finished even at 36-36 after the Sharks finished the second period with a 17-6 edge and the Blue Jackets finished the third with a nine-shot edge.
Ostapchuk gave the Sharks breathing room on a breakaway goal with 4:44 left in the third, putting them up 3-1, but Monahan made it 3-2 on the next shift to give the Blue Jackets a late push that was quickly stomped out. Ferraro’s empty-netter from his own zone made it 4-2, Celebrini’s into an empty net made it 5-2 and the Sharks won for the fourth time in the past five games.
The Blue Jackets, who played without forward Mason Marchment (upper-body injury) play the next three games of the trip with three tough matchups Jan. 8 at the Vegas Golden Knights, Jan. 10 at the Colorado Avalanche and Jan. 11 at the Utah Mammoth.
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.socialÂ