The Buffalo Sabres got exactly what they needed Tuesday night in San Jose: a clean, low-scoring win, a shutout in net, and a performance that finally looked more like control than scramble.
Buffalo beat the Sharks 2-0 to open its three-game Western trip, shaking off an overtime loss to the Washington Capitals in which former Sabre Alex Tuch scored the winner. This one never turned into a track meet.
Nobody scored in the first period, and the game stayed tight until Olen Zellweger broke through in the second with a sharp shot off a beautiful pass from Konsta Helenius. From there, both goaltenders kept things quiet until the Sabres added another in the third to seal it.
The biggest difference came from Colten Ellis, who turned in the strongest goaltending performance Buffalo has gotten all season. He stopped all 23 shots he faced for his second career shutout and the Sabres’ first shutout of the season.
Natural Stat Trick had his expected goals against at 2.62. Afterward, Lindy Ruff didn’t dance around it.
“Put it in the excellent category,” Ruff said. “I thought we mishandled a puck early, about a minute and half into the game, and I thought he made a great save there.”
That kind of outing raises an obvious question for Thursday: does Buffalo ride the hot hand?
The Sabres also did a much better job in front of Ellis than they have for much of the season. They blocked 20 shots, while the Sharks managed only 12.
Four Buffalo players finished with at least three blocks: Beck Malenstyn, Josh Norris, Owen Power, and Mattias Samuelsson. That mattered, too, because the Sabres entered the night near the bottom of the league with just 126 blocked shots through 11 games, an average of about 11 per game.
On this night, they made life a lot easier on their goalie.
Buffalo also got a small but meaningful first: its first lead entering the third period this season. That has been a missing piece early on, with the Sabres leaning on late-game push after late-game push to pull out wins.
Last season, when they led after two periods, they were nearly unbeatable, going 35-2-0. If they can pair stronger starts with the third-period edge they’ve already shown, the path back on track gets a lot clearer.
And then there was Zach Benson, who finally got his first goal of the season in classic Zach Benson fashion. Buffalo had shuffled its lines before the game and split up the Benson-Noah Ostlund-Jack Quinn unit, even though that was the only line producing.
Benson came in with seven assists, second on the team, but no goals. That changed when he scored into an empty net to put the game out of reach.
It wasn’t a cheap empty-netter, either. Benson forced the turnover on the forecheck along the boards, chased the puck down, and finished the play himself. It was the kind of effort goal that fits him perfectly, and Buffalo will take that every time.
The Sabres now get a little break before returning to the ice Thursday against the Anaheim Ducks, their third game of this four-game road trip.
In Other News...
Sabres Slow Start Has Buffalo Fans Eyeing One Trade Fix
Buffalos uneven start has already pushed the Sabres into an uncomfortable spot in the Atlantic Division standings, and it has the front office looking for help before the early-season hole gets any deeper. At 4-4-3, the margin for patience is not especially wide, so the chatter around the club has quickly turned to whether GM Jarmo Kekalainen can find a scoring winger who fits the roster without forcing a bigger shakeup elsewhere.
Reports from The Fourth Period and TSNs David Pagnotta say Kekalainen is exploring the trade market, though no deal is close and no specific target has been identified. Around the league, the rumor mill has linked Buffalo to a few familiar names, but for now the Sabres are still searching for a possible answer rather than landing on one, which leaves the next move very much up in the air. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Are Being Linked To A Center Move They May Struggle To Make
Buffalos 2-0 win over the San Jose Sharks offered a rare pause from the frustration that had built during the losing streak, but it also did little to quiet the bigger roster questions hanging over the organization. The Sabres still need more up the middle, and that has naturally pushed the front office into the center market as it looks for a way to accelerate the teams timeline.
One name now floating around is tied to Detroit, though any pursuit comes with obvious complications. The buzz around Buffalo is that Jarmo Kekalainen would like to explore a deal for a proven center, but the Sabres are working against a crowded field of suitors and the reality that the player in question has already narrowed his options elsewhere. For a team trying to turn a promising core into a consistent winner, it is the kind of trade idea that sounds easy in theory and becomes much harder once the negotiations actually start. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres May Already Be Feeling Better About The Zellweger Deal
Olen Zellwegers first stretch in Buffalo has given the Sabres a reason to feel pretty good about the move, even if the deal is still in its early stages. The defenseman has settled in quickly after arriving from Anaheim, bringing more offense to the blue line and looking like a fit in Lindy Ruffs system. He has collected five points in seven games, which is the kind of immediate contribution Buffalo was hoping to get from a player with his upside.
For the Sabres, the part that matters now is whether Zellwegers strong start becomes a trend rather than just a hot first impression. Buffalo gave up prospect Anton Wahlberg and a 2026 draft pick to get him, so the evaluation is already tied to how Zellweger holds up over time. Wahlberg, meanwhile, has been turning heads with the Ducks AHL affiliate in San Diego, which only adds another layer to a trade that could look very different as both sides keep developing. [Read more 🡒]