Sharks goalie Martin Jones seeks redemption vs. Golden Knights

Sharks goaltender Martin Jones has proven to be a capable playoff performer throughout his career, even helping San Jose to a Stanley Cup Final appearance with three shutouts and a 2.16 goals-against average in 2016.

He enters this postseason as perhaps the team’s biggest question mark.

The numbers aren’t great this season for the 29-year-old, who enters the playoffs ranked last among the 16 projected starting netminders in goals-against average, save percentage, slot save percentage and actual-to-expected goals against.

His struggles against the Golden Knights may be even more concern for the Sharks.

Jones has started 13 games against the Knights over the last two seasons. He has been pulled four times and owns a 3.28 goals-against average.

“Everybody is different, but hopefully for us it plays in his head a little bit,” Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said Monday. “But I don’t think we can count on it. We just have to focus on our game and try to do our best against him.

“I like him. Since he’s been in the league, he’s always been good. He’s a big guy, plays well with his angles and doesn’t move around all crazy. He’s always solid and has consistency in his game.”

San Jose’s defensive struggles haven’t been limited to games against the Knights. The Sharks inability to keep the puck out of the net were particularly glaring over the final month of the season.

They allowed just two goals in each of the final two games, both victories with one started by Jones and one by Aaron Dell. But they had allowed 47 in the previous 11 contests to raise some red flags for a team that has visions of making a deep postseason run.

“It’s been a little bit of everything,” Jones said last week. “We’ve had some tough bounces. Probably too much off the rush. We need to work for each other coming back into our own end and be able to trust that we’ll be there for each other. And then we need some more saves. It’s just a little bit of everything.”

Some of the concerns may have been eased when Jones made 28 saves in a 5-2 win over the Avalanche in the season finale.

It was an encouraging close to the season for Jones, who had posted a save percentage below .890 in four straight games before Saturday. He did finish tied for third in the league with 36 wins, but allowed 2.94 goals per game and finished with a .896 save percentage in by far his worst statistical season.

“They should have a stat about belief in your goaltender,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said Monday. “If they had that stat, Jones would be batting 1.000 with our group. There has not been one mumble or whisper in our group about him or our confidence in him to get the job done. That’s the one analytic stat we have that you guys may not have access to.”

Yet it was DeBoer who has pulled Jones four times against the Knights over the last two seasons, including two of the six games in last year’s playoff series.

He gave up five goals on 18 shots in Game 1 before being benched early in the second period. He then surrendered four goals on 31 shots while playing into the third period of Game 5. Both of those games were in Las Vegas.

Jones allowed nine in the other four games combined, including two wins and a Game 4 shutout.

This season, Jones had mixed results against the Knights. He earned a 3-2 win at T-Mobile Arena in January and defeated the Knights 4-3 in overtime at SAP Center on March 30. Jones, however, lasted just 12:24 two weeks earlier in a home game against the Knights before allowing three goals on 11 shots.

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Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.