Sharks’ Martin Jones shuts out Blues again, 3-0

Martin Jones made 22 saves in his second straight shutout and Tomas Hertl scored twice to give the San Jose Sharks a series lead for the first time in four trips to the Western Conference final with a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues in Game 3 on Thursday night.

Joonas Donskoi also scored to give the Sharks a 2-1 series advantage and move them as close as they have ever been to reaching their first Stanley Cup final. San Jose had won only three games in its first three trips to the conference final, part of a long history of playoff disappointment that is showing signs of coming to an end.

St. Louis has gone 150 minutes 45 seconds without scoring since Jori Lehtera’s second-period goal in Game 1 led to a 2-1 victory.

Game 4 is Saturday in San Jose, where the Sharks have won six consecutive playoff games.

Brian Elliott gave up three goals on 14 shots before being pulled midway through the third.

The Blues now find themselves trailing a series for only the second time this postseason. Overcoming this deficit might be tougher than coming back last round after losing the opener to Dallas.

Whereas the Stars were leaky on defense and rotated between two mostly ineffective goalies, the Sharks have done a stellar job defending in front of Jones, who has been sharp in his first postseason as a starter.

After giving up the soft goal to Lehtera that led to the Game 1 loss, Jones has been perfect the last two games. He has stopped 58 straight shots and has posted the first back-to-back playoff shutouts in Sharks history.

That kind of goaltending and another dominant performance from Joe Thornton’s line was more than enough for San Jose. That line scored twice, with the first coming off a St. Louis turnover late in the first.

Colton Parayko’s breakout pass to Lehtera was broken up in the neutral zone by Brent Burns. Thornton quickly sent the loose puck ahead to Joe Pavelski, who found Hertl for a big slap shot that beat Elliott high to the glove side to make it 1-0 late in the period.

Hertl scored again early in the third off a perfect pass from Thornton, ending Elliott’s night.