Sabres at Sharks | How to watch, lineup notes, and storylines

The Buffalo Sabres continue their four-game road trip with their first of three games in California on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center.

Before the Sabres boarded their cross-country flight to the Bay Area, they fell 4-3 in overtime to the Washington Capitals in D.C. Four of Buffalo’s last five games have surpassed regulation time, with the Sabres sitting at an even 2-2 split in those four.

And while 3-on-3 overtime felt familiar for Buffalo on Saturday, the way in which they got there was a bit different. For just the second time in 11 games, the Sabres didn’t face a multi-goal deficit – they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, after all – but Buffalo was instead plagued by its second-period struggles, as the Capitals eventually took a 3-2 lead into the third.

But the Sabres got a point, largely due to their improved third period. That’s something Buffalo has leaned on, despite the slumping special teams, second-period woes and missed scoring chances, en route to a 4-4-3 start to the season.

“We’ve got to find a way to use that intensity in the third earlier in games,” Josh Doan said on Saturday. “I think our third period’s been really good all year, and we’ve shot ourselves in the foot and started from behind in the majority of those.”

• Saturday’s postgame report: ‘Shot ourselves in the foot’ | Second-period struggles lead to OT loss in Washington

Overtime might be a recent fad for the Sabres, but the San Jose Sharks have long followed that trend. San Jose has six wins, but five have come via overtime or shootout. The Sharks boast a 5-1 record in games stretching past regulation, having only earned their first regulation win last Thursday, 6-2 in Ottawa.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Buffalo’s late-night tilt in San Jose.

How to watch

TV (national): ESPN

Streaming: ESPN+

Radio: WGR 550 / Buffalo Sabres App

**More ways to watch/listen to Sabres games**

Lineup notes

At practice in San Jose on Monday, coach Lindy Ruff once again shuffled his forward lines in search of more consistent scoring. One of those moves included moving Zach Benson up to the first line with Tage Thompson (center) and Konsta Helenius (right wing).

Benson and Thompson played more than 300 minutes together at 5-on-5 last season, controlling 52 percent of scoring chances for and 56 percent of high danger chances for.

Numbers to know

• Of the Sabres’ five road games, four have gone to OT. Buffalo is 1-1-3 on the road overall.
• Jack Quinn is riding a four-game point streak where he’s totaled seven points (3+4). Quinn has nine points (5+4) in eight career games against San Jose, including a hat trick and four-point performance on March 10 – it had been Quinn’s first and only four-point game until 12 days ago, when he matched it in Toronto.
• Owen Power’s 30:09 played on Saturday grew his time on ice per game average to 27:00, which ranks second in the NHL behind only Columbus’ Zach Werenski.
• The Sabres have won seven of their last eight against the Sharks, outscoring them 35-18 over that stretch.

Scouting the Sharks

San Jose is coming off a six-game road trip where it collected seven of a possible 12 points.

Led by 20-year-old phenom Macklin Celebrini, the young Sharks can score but have trouble preserving leads and surrender plenty of high-danger scoring chances (139 in all, one of the highest numbers in the NHL). San Jose has blown two-goal leads in four separate games, though they’ve held on to win three (and earn points in all four).

Celebrini leads his squad in both goals (five) and points (15), playing an average of 22:42 per night – that leads his team and is the second-highest average for a forward in the league, behind only Connor McDavid. Sabres fans could expect to see Celebrini centering San Jose’s top line alongside Will Smith and rookie Ivar Stenberg, who’s assembled himself a nice start to his NHL career (nine points in 12 games).

San Jose is without rookie Igor Chernyshov and veteran Alex Wennberg, as both forwards are week to week with upper-body injuries.

The Sharks have almost evenly split the starts between their two goalies, Alex Nedeljkovic and Yarslav Askarov. Nedeljkovic has a 3-1 record and a .903 save percentage, while Askaraov is 3-4 and sporting a .883 save percentage.