At the Horn | Sabres 2 - Sharks 0

Colten Ellis made 24 saves for his second NHL shutout and the Buffalo Sabres defeated the San Jose Sharks 2-0 at SAP Center on Tuesday.

Ellis outdueled San Jose goaltender Yaroslav Askarov, who made 38 saves. The Sabres took a season-high 40 shots including 18 high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Ellis – who started for the first time since Oct. 12 – made his own share of highlight-reel stops, none better than the point-blank save he made with his left pad to rob Sharks forward Collin Graf and preserve a 1-0 lead late in the second period.

Ellis added another point-blank save to stop Kiefer Sherwood from the slot with 4:01 remaining.

Buffalo’s defense did its part with a season-high 20 blocked shots, including four each from Mattias Samuelsson and Owen Power.

The Sabres led after two periods for the first time this season on the strength of a goal from Olen Zellweger, who beat Askarov from above the left faceoff circle. Zach Benson added his first goal of the season on an empty net.

The Sabres are now halfway through their four-game road trip, which continues against the two remaining California teams, having collected three of four possible points.

Statistics

Scoring summary

BUF 1 – SJS 0 | Period 2, 0:50 – Olen Zellweger (3) from Konsta Helenius (2) and Owen Power (8)

BUF 2 – SJS 0 | Period 3, 19:05 (EN) – Zach Benson unassisted

Up next

The road trip continues in Anaheim on Thursday. The game can be streamed exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu with puck drop scheduled for 10 p.m.