Pavol Regenda forward (84) for the San Jose Sharks is thrilled with the Sharks taking the lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets at SAP Center in San Jose on Tue Jan 6, 2026 (San Jose Sharks X photo)
By Lincoln Juarez
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Alex Wennberg notched three points including a goal in his first game since signing a three-year contract extension. Zach Ostapchuk was rewarded with the game-winning goal in a vibrant 5–2Tuesday night victory at the Shark Tank.
Tuesday night hockey at SAP Center brought the Columbus Blue Jackets (18-16-7) to town holding the worst record in the Eastern conference while tallying as many points as the Sharks(43), who entered the game just two points out of the final Western conference wild card spot.
The Sharks were coming off a bitter loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday afternoon where Pavol Regenda scored his first career hat trick in the 7-3 loss. With the Ducks loss to the Flyers in Philadelphia, that second wild card spot was up for grabs with a Sharks win.
Regenda kept his torch of a stick on fire, making the difference in the first period of Tuesday’s game with the lone goal between the two teams. Displaying his sweet set of mitts, he roofed one above the glove of Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves. It was Regenda’s sixth goal in just his fifth game with the Sharks this season with Alex Wennberg picking up the primary assist in his first game since signing a three-year contract extension with San Jose.
In the Sharks crease, Alex Nedeljkovic stood strong turning away all 12 shots he faced including some point-blank scoring chances. Nedeljkovic has made some big saves to keep the Sharks in games as of late with the recent inconsistent play of Yaroslav Askarov.
The pace the Sharks lacked on Saturday was in full force in the second period Tuesday night. Outshooting the Blue Jackets 17-5 in the middle period, San Jose dominated time on attack and offensive pressure. The Sharks drew four penalties, one of which came on a trip to forward Ty Dellandrea, sending him legs-first into the goal post and to the locker room for the rest of the game.
The Sharks were only able to capitalize on one power play. Alex Wennberg backhanded one into the net to put the Sharks ahead by two goals with his eighth of the season, getting in on both of the Sharks goals through the first two periods.
Columbus finally had an answer with Zach Werenski’s 16th goal of the season to get back within a goal.
The second period had a little bit of everything, including a heavy-weight tilt between Mathieu Olivier and Ryan Reaves at center ice, keeping the energy high in the Shark Tank as the second period came to an end with San Jose in front 2-1.
An energetic third period saw both teams attacking with the Blue Jackets throwing 18 shots at Alex Nedeljkovic while the Sharks had nine shots on goal. Neither side prevailed until Zach Ostapchuk, “the fastest man in the world” according to Ryan Reaves, broke free from everybody and scored a sweet goal to extend the Sharks lead back to two with 4:44 left in regulation. “He’s been playing some good hockey, happy for him to get rewarded with a goal tonight” said head coach Ryan Warsofsky on Zach Ostapchuk’s play of late.
Luckily the Sharks got some insurance because Sean Monohan brought the Blue Jackets back within one less than a minute later with his sixth goal of the campaign.
San Jose went on to score two empty-net goals from Mario Ferraro and Macklin Celebrini to secure a 5-2 win and swap places with the Anaheim Ducks for the second wild card spot in the West following their loss in Philadelphia earlier in the night.
Team teal will be right back in action Wednesday night in downtown LA when the puck drops at 7:30pm in the second game of back-to-backs against the Los Angeles Kings.
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