Ellis Blanks the Sharks as Benson and Zellweger Light the Lamp
Buffalo wins on the better looks in San Jose, while Celebrini and Will Smith each ring iron and Askarov keeps it close
Buffalo won 2-0 in San Jose because it got the better looks all night, not because it got lucky. Colten Ellis finished the job by stopping all 24 shots.
The Sabres outshot the Sharks 40-24. Their chances were worth 4.93 expected goals, a measure of how many goals those looks would usually produce. San Jose's were worth 3.70. Shot attempts were close to even, but Buffalo's were the more dangerous ones.
Ellis still had real work to do. The Sharks' chances added up to almost four goals, and he allowed none. Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith each hit iron, so the bounces did help him at least twice.
Zach Benson led Buffalo's chance creation with 5 shots and scored. Olen Zellweger scored the other goal. Beck Malenstyn got 4 quality looks but did not score.
At the other end, Yaroslav Askarov stopped 38 of 39 and kept a lopsided night from getting away from San Jose.
