ST. LOUIS -- The San Jose Sharks are now closer than they’ve ever been to playing for a Stanley Cup. In beating the St. Louis Blues 6-3 in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, the Sharks are tantalizingly close with a 3-2 series lead.

How it happened: In the third period, Joe Pavelski's second goal of the game, on a beautiful tip of a Brent Burns shot, gave the Sharks their first lead of the game since the first period, when Marc-Edouard Vlasic opened the scoring. And they did a great job protecting that lead, limiting the Blues' offensive chances on goalie Martin Jones for the rest of the third period to seal the win.

These two teams played to a 3-3 draw through two periods, and it was some of the most riveting hockey of the postseason for both teams. After the Blues scored two even-strength goals in the first period (by Jaden Schwartz and Troy Brouwer), the Sharks' power play continued to crank out goals with two of their own in the second.

Joel Ward scored on a rebound to temporarily tie the game before Robby Fabbri's power-play goal broke the tie.

The Sharks answered after that with Joe Thornton patiently waiting behind Jake Allen before finding Pavelski in the slot for a goal. That goal pulled Pavelski even with the Tampa Bay Lightning's Nikita Kucherov for the most goals in the postseason with 11; Pavelski pulled past Kucherov later in the game with his second goal.

What it means: The Sharks won the most important game in their franchise history, only to set up one that's even more important. They’re now one win away from their first trip to the Stanley Cup finals in franchise history thanks in large part to a big bounce-back effort after the lackluster showing they had in Game 4. The power play was clicking again, and the Sharks always had an answer for each Blues goal.

Don’t be fooled by the blowout score from late empty-net goals. The Sharks took on a strong Blues effort in the best game of this series and still won, an accomplishment they can build on heading into Game 6 in San Jose. One more win for the Sharks, and years of frustration for hitting a wall in the conference finals are gone.