Early look The full preview opens on Sunday 28 February, three days before puck drop, with the expected goalies, the latest team news and game-day prices. Until then this page shows the matchup as it stands.
Early look · NHL 2026-27

Columbus Blue Jackets at San Jose Sharks: game preview

Puck drop3 Mar · 10:00 PM ET
VenueSAP Center at San Jose
All-time meetings75 completed
BasisLast 5 meetings + 2025-26
The thesis

Six points apart last season

Columbus finished last season 17th in the league on 92 points. San Jose finished 24th on 86.

Game-day prices arrive with the afternoon snapshot, about 4:30 PM ET on the day of the game.

Head-to-head

Meeting number 76

Across 75 completed games, San Jose lead the head-to-head 44-26-5.

All-time record44-26-5San Jose's record in the series
Meetings played75This is number 76
2025-26 series—
Last 53-2San Jose
DateResultShotsPower playWinner
28 Mar 2026SJS 3 – CBJ 2——SJS
6 Jan 2026CBJ 2 – SJS 5——SJS
16 Jan 2025SJS 1 – CBJ 4——CBJ
5 Nov 2024CBJ 1 – SJS 2 OT——SJS
16 Mar 2024SJS 2 – CBJ 4——CBJ
Head-to-head finder

The table on each 2025-26 meeting night

DateColumbusSan Jose
6 Jan 202618-17-7 · 43 pts25th21-18-3 · 45 pts23rd
28 Mar 202638-24-11 · 87 pts11th33-31-7 · 73 pts26th

League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 6 Jan 2026, Columbus were 25th in the league and San Jose 23rd. By 28 Mar 2026 it was 11th and 26th.


Where the shots come from · last 5 meetings

San Jose out-attempted Columbus 130 to 110

Every attempt from the last meetings, both teams shooting right.

Columbus Blue Jackets

110 att · 60 on goal · 4 G · 6.7%
Crease11 att · 1 G
Slot39 att · 2 G
Wing40 att · 1 G
Point20 att · 0 G
Neutral zone0 att · 0 G

San Jose Sharks

130 att · 72 on goal · 8 G · 11.1%
Crease15 att · 0 G
Slot52 att · 4 G
Wing42 att · 1 G
Point18 att · 1 G
Neutral zone3 att · 2 G
GoalOn goalMissedBlocked

Expected goals

Columbus have created the better chances, last 10 games

Shot quality both ways: expected goals weigh every unblocked attempt by its chance of scoring. Finishing above zero means more goals than the chances.

ColumbusSan Jose
2.43xG for per game2.13
2.78xG against per game3.72
46.7%xG share36.4%
+2.1FinishingGoals minus expected goals+2.6
−1.4GoaltendingExpected goals against minus goals allowed−0.8

This season: 2 games for Columbus, 3 for San Jose. Small sample: early-season xG moves a lot from night to night.

Every team’s xG →


Special teams

Power play and penalty kill, season and series

This season's rates first, then 2025-26 and the last meetings between the two. Power-play chances are counted from the penalty log with coincidental minors cancelled; faceoffs are each club's wins over draws taken.

All bars share one scale · 0–100%SeasonLast meetings

Columbus

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2740.0%
Power play · 2025-2618.9% · 22nd
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2766.7%
Penalty kill · 2025-2676.0% · 28th
Faceoffs · 2026-2755.9% · 71/127
Drawn · 2026-275 (2.50/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-279 (4.50/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

San Jose

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2725.0%
Power play · 2025-2621.2% · 16th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2775.0%
Penalty kill · 2025-2676.4% · 26th
Faceoffs · 2026-2744.4% · 72/162
Drawn · 2026-278 (2.67/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2712 (4.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Skaters

Skaters to watch

Each club's top three forwards and defencemen by points this season, with 2025-26 one tap away.

PlayerGPGAPP/GP
89Matthew Knies22242.00
3Charlie Coyle20331.50
91Kent Johnson21121.00
2Will Smith32131.00
92Igor Chernyshov32131.00
Points leaders
PlayerGPGAPP/GP
8Zach Werenski20221.00
36Emil Andrae20110.50
42Luca Cagnoni31120.67
5Nolan Allan21010.50
65Jacob Trouba30110.33
Defencemen stats

Goaltending

Who has stopped this matchup

Save percentage in the last meetings by goalie. Starters are confirmed on game day.

Expected startersAn estimate until the teams confirmEvery game tonight →

Expected starter after their game on 1 Mar: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Expected starter after their game on 1 Mar: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Columbus crease

CBJ · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 28 Feb

Jet Greaves.8772 GP · 1-1-0 · GSAx −1.4

No appearances against San Jose in the last meetings.

San Jose crease

SJS · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 28 Feb

Yaroslav Askarov.8623 GP · 2-1-0 · GSAx −0.8

No appearances against Columbus in the last meetings.


Totals

Scoring rates point to about 6.5 goals

No total is posted yet: it arrives with the game-day prices. Until then, the scoring rates and the recent meetings set the range.

Goals in the last 5 meetings

28 Mar 20265 · SJS 3–2 CBJ
6 Jan 20267 · CBJ 2–5 SJS
16 Jan 20255 · SJS 1–4 CBJ
5 Nov 20243 · CBJ 1–2 SJS
16 Mar 20246 · SJS 2–4 CBJ

Bar length is total goals, coloured by the winner.

Scoring rates

Team26-27 GF26-27 GA25-26 GF25-26 GA
Columbus3.503.503.093.09
San Jose3.004.003.063.56

Goals for and against per game. The estimate averages each team’s scoring with the other’s goals allowed, and leans on 2025-26 until a team has played 20 games.

Scoring rates suggest6.5Goals in this game
Last 5 meetings5.2Goals per game
Line—No total posted yet
Books at the line—With the game-day prices

Team news

6 on the injury lists

Columbus · injuries

No players listed.

San Jose · injuries

Adam GaudetteUpper BodyIRReturn10 Oct
Alex Barre-BouletUndisclosedIRReturn8 Oct
Cam LundUpper BodyIRReturn19 Oct
Kyle KeyserUpper BodyIRReturn1 Dec
Macklin CelebriniLower BodyDay-to-dayReturn8 Oct
Quentin MustyUpper BodyIRReturn1 Dec
6 Oct · CBJ

Placed LW Mikael Pyyhtia on waivers.

1 Oct · CBJ

Placed D Ivan Provorov on injured reserve.

27 Sep · CBJ

Assigned G Pheonix Copley to Cleveland (AHL).

4 Oct · SJS

Placed C Patrick Giles on waivers.

27 Sep · SJS

Placed G Ilya Samsonov on waivers.

23 Sep · SJS

Placed RW Ethan Cardwell, D Libor Hajek and LW Tye Felhaber on waivers.

Injury report
#14Oscar HemmingRound 1 · Boston CollegeLW
#94Alessandro Di IorioRound 3 · SarniaC
#121Evan JardineRound 4 · YoungstownLW
#142Parker SnellRound 5 · EdmontonG
Full draft
#2Ivar StenbergRound 1 · FrolundaLW
#9Keaton VerhoeffRound 1 · North DakotaD
#21Ryan LinRound 1 · VancouverD
#127Brady KnowlingRound 4 · Usa U-18G
Full draft

Updated after every final