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Giving Martin Jones another start in the Maple Leafs net came naturally for coach Sheldon Keefe on Tuesday.

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With the way Jones has been playing lately, it’s of little wonder why.

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Jones, named the National Hockey League second star of the week on Monday, will be back in the crease when the Leafs play host to the San Jose Sharks at Scotiabank Arena.

As Joseph Woll recovers from a sprained ankle and Ilya Samsonov works with Toronto Marlies goalie coach Hannu Toivonen and the Leafs’ development staff, Jones has started the past four games and eight of the past 10. Rarely has he faltered.

“I think he’s handling (the workload) great,” Keefe said. “And going into the game (Tuesday), he has played one game in the last five days. From that aspect, I think he’s feeling good and rested and obviously confident. Easy decision to keep him going.”

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For the time being, backup netminder Dennis Hildeby will have to wait for his first start in the NHL, provided it comes at some point.

Against the Sharks, who are mired in an 11-game losing streak and are in last place in the NHL, the Leafs will strive to build off their three-game sweep in California.

Toronto has won three in a row, including a 4-1 decision in San Jose on Saturday, and has given up just one goal at five-on-five in its past four games. 

“The last couple of weeks we have defended a lot better, played a lot better in our own zone, breaking pucks out and defending better as a team,” veteran defenceman Mark Giordano said. “Whenever you do that, you give yourself a chance every night. As these last few games have gone on, we have been really patient within the game. There have been some close games where we’ve carried play, but we have not got frustrated and stayed patient and the (positive) results came.”

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There could be a lineup change for the Leafs. After sitting the past two games as a healthy scratch, winger Nick Robertson could draw back in.

An illness that made its way through the Leafs room a few weeks ago has popped back up, Keefe said, though he did not identify which players could be game-time decisions.

Keefe has liked Pontus Holmberg on the left wing on the third line and has little interest in taking fourth-liner Bobby McMann out of the lineup. So Robertson has been the odd man out.

“I think he has shown that he can play the league,” Keefe said in reference to Robertson. “Also, I don’t know that he’s really fully separated himself from the pack. That’s the next piece. I’ve talked to him about importance of taking care of the puck and being able to execute plays.

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“When there’s a chance to make a play or a pass or shot on goal, a lot of those plays have sort of slipped off his stick or haven’t quite been smooth, and it’s sort of disrupted the offence, which leads to having to defend more.”

As for the Sharks, they have not won since beating the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 12 and have been outscored 47-16 in losing 11 in a row in regulation.

“We’ve been in a tough stretch and one of the things as a group we felt pretty proud about is we’ve lost some games we probably should have won,” Sharks coach David Quinn said. “(The loss against Toronto three days ago) wasn’t one of them. There was not a lot of resistance on our end of it. I don’t think anybody felt really good about what happened against Toronto.”

Kaapo Kahkonen was the first Sharks goalie off the ice at the morning skate and is expected to start. In two career games against the Leafs, he is 1-1-0 with a .898 save percentage.

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