ST. LOUIS — Jaden Schwartz is on a scoring run that has the St. Louis Blues dreaming big.

Schwartz’s hat trick Sunday in Game 5 helped give the Blues a 3-2 series lead against the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference final. The Blues could advance to their first Stanley Cup final since 1970 when they host Game 6 on Tuesday night.

“It’s probably tough to put into words,” Schwartz said. “It’s something that everyone’s worked for and dreamed about. You don’t want to look too far ahead. We all know how important and how hard that last win’s going to be. It would be a dream come true.”

Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko have played huge roles in the Blues’ playoff success. Just not necessarily in the way that was expected.

Tarasenko has come up with more big assists than goals against the Sharks.

Meanwhile, Schwartz found a scoring touch that eluded him in the regular season. After scoring 11 goals in 69 regular-season games, Schwartz has 12 goals in 18 playoff games.

Schwartz is the first player to have two hat tricks in the same playoffs since Johan Franzen did it for Detroit in 2008 and is the first to do it for the Blues.

BRUINS: Defenseman Zdeno Chara returned to practice for his first full-squad workout since sitting out the Eastern Conference-clinching victory with an undisclosed injury.

Chara had skated prior to practices over the weekend but didn’t participate in any full sessions. He said he felt good after the Bruins’ 45-minute workout and is on track to play in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals May 27.

Forward David Krejci also returned to practice. Coach Bruce Cassidy said Krejci was given a “maintenance day” Sunday.

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