Ellis Blanks Sharks as Buffalo's Defense Carries a 2-0 Win

Colten Ellis stopped all 24 shots he faced for a shutout, and Buffalo's defense did the rest in a 2-0 win over San Jose on October 28. The story of the night was a goaltending duel that San Jose ultimately couldn't solve, despite Yaroslav Askarov's heroic 38-save effort on the other end.

The game was a stalemate through the first period and into the second, but 50 seconds into the middle frame, Olen Zellweger broke it open with his third goal of the season — a snap shot set up by Konsta Helenius and Owen Power. That goal shifted the score margin from zero to one, and it looks like that single moment was all Buffalo needed to control the rest of the night. Power, who picked up his eighth assist on that play, appears to be operating as the engine of Buffalo's power-play and transition game right now.

San Jose's Askarov gave his team every chance to stay in it. Stopping 38 of 39 shots is a performance that deserves to be called out plainly — that's elite goaltending on a night when the Sharks generated 39 attempts but couldn't convert. The problem for San Jose is that Askarov had no margin for error, and the one puck that beat him in the second period proved to be the difference. Ellis, meanwhile, was never seriously tested — 24 shots, 24 saves, zero goals allowed. When your goalie faces 15 fewer shots than the opponent's and posts a shutout, you've won the territorial battle convincingly.

Zach Benson added the insurance goal at 19:05 of the third — a wrist shot assisted by Tage Thompson and Power, who notched his ninth assist of the season on the play. Power finishing with two assists and nine helpers on the year looks like a statement from a defenseman who is becoming one of the more impactful blue-liners in the league. Benson's goal, coming with under a minute left, sealed it and made the final margin feel more comfortable than the game actually was for most of three periods. Buffalo walked away with a clean 2-0 sheet. San Jose, despite Askarov's brilliance, walks away with nothing.