ST. LOUIS — Once again, Brian Elliott was the star of the show. His latest performance gave his St. Louis Blues teammates plenty of comfort knowing he had their back.

“When your goalie is your best player, it gives you a great chance of winning, and that was the case,” captain David Backes said after the Blues opened their first Western Conference final in 15 years with a tense 2-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday night.

“It was that way for the first two rounds,” Backes added, “and nothing’s changed in Game 1 of the third round.”

Backes opened the scoring and Jori Lehtera had the go-ahead goal in the second period on a spinning shot that Martin Jones could not handle.

“I just got the puck and closed my eyes and shot it, that’s about it,” Lehtera said. “Just keep it simple.”

Said Jones: “Not much to it, just found a hole. I’ll make that save next time.”

Tomas Hertl scored on a first-period deflection for the Sharks, who outshot St. Louis 32-23 but couldn’t quite solve Elliott.

Among those he frustrated was captain Joe Pavelski, who had seven shots and had perhaps the best chance in the third period on a one-timer near the midway mark. Pavelski and Elliott were roommates at Wisconsin.

“I’m going to blame that one on the stick,” Pavelski said. “No, I have to find a way to put that in regardless of what goes on. I thought it was going in.”

Blues coach Ken Hitchcock thought his team was fortunate to survive the last 2:29 after the Sharks pulled Jones.