By Pearl Allison Lo

~ San Jose goalie Martin Jones had his second straight shutout, as the Sharks blanked Washington Tuesday, 5-0, for their third straight win.

Jones made 31 saves and has a scoreless streak dating back to the first period of the season.

San Jose has now won their first three games to start the season for the fourth year in a row. They have scored five goals in two of those games.

Meanwhile, the Sharks’ record on the penalty kill remained pristine as they killed four power plays and are now 11-11.

Joe Thornton scored the first goal for his team again, on the power play at 10:54 of the first period. Joe Pavelski passed the puck behind him to Brent Burns, who readjusted and shot through traffic from the point, and Thornton was there at the end.  San Jose had 17 shots in the period for the second straight period, going back to the game versus the Ducks.

Mike Brown made it 2-0 at 2:36 of the second period. It was his first of the season and first since December 3, 2013. Brown passed to Chris Tierney, whose shot was blocked by goalie Braden Holtby, and Brown put in the rebound. Barclay Goodrow had the second assist.

At 7:25, Tomas Hertl scored his second, to make it 3-0. Matt Nieto passed across to Tommy Wingels, who moved into and shot from the middle of the right faceoff circle. The puck came back and Hertl put in the recoil.

The Capitals’ Dmitry Orlov had a goal at 10:21, but Sharks’ Head Coach Peter DeBoer used one of the new NHL rules to issue the team’s first ever challenge. It resulted in a review that reversed the goal. The referee credited it to goaltender interference by Jay Beagle, before the puck entered the net.

San Jose committed three penalties in the third, but scored two more goals due to an empty net. The Sharks avoided a 5-on-3 by five seconds midway through the period.

Holtby was pulled with 3:45 left. Nieto made it 4-0 with two minutes left and Tierney was aided by Goodrow with 47 seconds left. It was both scorers’ first goal of the season and the plays gave all three players two points apiece in the game.  

Game notes: Washington was without Alex Ovechkin. Brown led the team with three hits. Nieto had a game-tying three blocked shots. San Jose’s Patrick Marleau had a team high five shots. It was the Sharks’ Joel Ward’s first game against his former team. San Jose will now play their head coach’s former team, the New Jersey Devils, Friday at 4pm.