Sharks Shut Out by Sabres, Fall 2-0 Despite Askarov's 38 Saves

Final score: Buffalo 2, San Jose 0. And look, you can lose a hockey game 2-0 and still get a good, long look at your goaltender's film, because Yaroslav Askarov was the best player on the ice for either team Tuesday night. He stopped 38 of 39 shots he actually faced. The problem was volume — Buffalo put 40 shots on net to San Jose's 23 — and one clean look in the second period that Askarov never had a chance on.

That's the one that decided it. Just 50 seconds into the second, Olen Zellweger skated into the zone and ripped a snap shot past Askarov, with Konsta Helenius and Owen Power picking up the assists. That's the kind of goal you tell your kids about in film session — clean entry, shot off the rush before the defense is set. One mistake in coverage, one goal, and suddenly you're chasing the game for 39 minutes.

San Jose didn't get the response. Will Smith rang one off the crossbar early, and Askarov bailed his team out more than once — a pad save to rob Jason Zucker in tight, a slide to deny Noah Ostlund on a cross-crease feed — but the Sharks couldn't find the equalizer. Buffalo pulled away late in the third when San Jose had Askarov on the bench for the extra attacker; Zach Benson picked off a puck in the defensive zone and found the empty net to make it 2-0 with just under a minute left. Tage Thompson and Power got the helpers there too — Power finished with a team-leading two assists for the Sabres on the night.

Here's what I want you watching if you're scouting this one again: giveaways. San Jose coughed it up 21 times to Buffalo's six. You can have a great goalie, you can outwork a team on the forecheck — San Jose had 35 hits to Buffalo's 16, and that's a physical, honest effort — but if you're handing the puck back to the other team 21 times, you're playing defense you don't have to play. That's a teaching moment for any level: puck management wins hockey games as much as any X's and O's.

The power play didn't help matters either. Both teams went 0-for-3 with the man advantage, so special teams was a wash, but San Jose's five-on-five looks were often snuffed out before they could build anything sustained. Macklin Celebrini led the forwards in ice time at just under 25 minutes and won 15 of his faceoffs at a strong 60 percent clip, but the finish wasn't there — zero goals on the night for San Jose, period.

Buffalo's Colten Ellis earned the shutout and the first star nod with a perfect 1.000 save percentage on 23 shots. Askarov was rightfully named the second star for San Jose despite the loss — that's the kind of performance that keeps a team in games even when the results don't go your way.

San Jose falls to 6-6-1 overall, 2-3-0 at home, and Buffalo now leads the season series 1-0. The Sharks don't have much time to dwell on it — they're right back at it Thursday night at 10:00 PM ET against Vancouver. Clean up the puck management, get a saves-the-day effort like that from Askarov again, and this record turns around in a hurry.