The San Jose Sharks look to continue the team’s winning ways on the road tonight when the team pays a visit to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Sharks most recently won in Detroit with a 6-3 score thanks, in part, to a goal and two assists by William Eklund. The win snapped the Red Wings’ winning streak at seven games. Now, the Sharks will try to play spoiler again.
Columbus has won five games in a row, including a 3-2 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night. The team’s most recent wins have been strong, holding teams to two or fewer goals in the last three games.
The current streak is just a testament to how well Columbus has played this season. For the first time in several years, the Blue Jackets sit in a playoff spot. With 48 points, Columbus is currently in the second wild card spot.
Defenseman Zach Werenski leads the team with 50 points in 44 games, while Kirill Marchenko has 18 goals. Goaltender Elvis Merzlikins is 15-10-3 this season with a 3.12 goals against average and a .889 save percentage.
The big news in Columbus is the release of the jerseys for the team’s Stadium Series game against the aforementioned Detroit Red Wings.
BOOM💥
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) January 16, 2025
THE WAIT IS OVER & OUR STADIUM SERIES JERSEYS ARE HERE!
Preorder yours TODAY at https://t.co/fOBSbl4g73! https://t.co/3gPPjSlusN
The jersey features the Blue Jackets’ iconic cannon.
The Stadium Series game is March 1.
As for the Sharks, tonight will be Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s 1,300th NHL game. The 37-year-old has played all 1,300 games with the Sharks. According to StatMuse, Vlasic is climbing an esteemed list of NHL defensemen. He is 19th on the list in terms of games played, just behind Sergei Gonchar, who played 1,301 games in the NHL. After that, the jump up the list is huge. Vlasic would have to play the rest of this season and some of next season to pass the next player on the list — Teppo Numminen who has 1,372 NHL games played.
San Jose Sharks lines tonight
Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now reports there are no changes to the lineup from the last game and that includes in the net. Alexandar Georgiev gets the start again.
Forwards
Collin Graf – Mikael Granlund – Fabian Zetterlund
William Eklund – Macklin Celebrini – Tyler Toffoli
Luke Kunin – Alex Wennberg – Will Smith
Barclay Goodrow – Nico Sturm – Ty Dellandrea
Defense
Jake Walman – Cody Ceci
Mario Ferraro – Timothy Liljegren
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Jan Rutta
Goaltenders
Alexandar Georgiev
Yaroslav Askarov
Columbus Blue Jackets lines vs. San Jose Sharks
According to the Columbus Blue Jackets’ website, these are the projected lines for tonight’s game.
Forwards
Dmitri Voronkov – Adam Fantilli – Kirill Marchenko
James van Riemsdyk – Luca Del Bel Belluz – Kent Johnson
Zach Aston-Reese – Cole Sillinger – Mathieu Olivier
Mikael Pyyhtia – Sean Kuraly – Kevin Labanc
Defense
Zach Werenski – Dante Fabbro
Denton Mateychuk – Ivan Provorov
Jake Christiansen – Damon Severson
Goaltenders
Elvis Merzlikins
Daniil Tarasov
San Jose Sharks at Columbus Blue Jackets Jan. 16, 2025
The puck drops at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
San Jose Sharks fans can watch the game on NBC Sports California. You can also listen on the Sharks Audio Network.
Blue Jackets fans can watch the game on the FanDuel Sports Network or through the FanDuel Sports Network app. You can also listen on the CBJ radio network at 97.1 The Fan.
