Blue Jackets 6, Sharks 3
BLUE JACKETS 6, SHARKS 3: Jeff Carter celebrated his 500th NHL game with his fourth career hat trick as Columbus set a season high for goals to hand San Jose its fourth straight loss.
R.J. Umberger, captain Rick Nash and rookie defenseman David Savard each recorded a goal and an assist while Vinny Prospal set up three scores for the Blue Jackets, who ended a stretch of 14 consecutive games with three tallies or less.
Columbus' Steve Mason made 38 saves en route to his franchise-record 85th victory. Mason eclipsed the previous mark held by Marc Denis.
Less than two minutes after Umberger opened the scoring, Carter beat Antti Niemi to the stick side with a wrist shot from the top of the slot at 6:51 of the first period for a power-play goal.
Nash scored his 20th of the season with 4:42 remaining to chase Niemi, who made eight saves. Carter redirected a bouncing puck past Thomas Greiss during a man advantage with 30 seconds to play, giving Columbus a 4-0 lead after one session.
After San Jose halved the deficit on goals by captain Joe Thornton and All-Star Logan Couture, Savard beat Greiss with a one-timer from the top of the left circle midway through the second for the Blue Jackets' third power-play tally of the night.
Carter completed his second hat trick of the campaign 86 seconds into the third, converting a pass from Nash as the duo were alone in the low slot.
Couture scored his second goal of the game in the third period and Greiss stopped 21 shots for the Sharks, who fell to 1-4-1 on their season-high nine-game road trip. San Jose has lost seven of nine overall.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Nash reached the 20-goal mark for the eighth consecutive season. The only time he did not reach the plateau was his rookie campaign of 2002-03, when he scored 17 goals. ... Carter had gone seven games without a tally before recording his third multi-goal performance of the season. ... Couture's two-goal effort was his fourth of the campaign. ... The Sharks are 2-7-2 over their last 11 road games. ... Columbus had scored five goals twice this season before Tuesday's outburst.