Ellis gets back in the net against San Jose

San Jose, CA (WGR) - Colten Ellis will be back in the crease facing a San Jose Sharks team that the Buffalo Sabres have beaten in seven out of eight games outscoring them 35-18. Buffalo has also won four straight in San Jose.

Ellis had a tough outing in his last game on Oct. 12 against the Florida Panthers. He let two shots go right through him and Lindy Ruff pulled him after 26:26 minutes of work. Ellis has had to sit on that game ever since, but he said he knows how to handle it,

"When something like that happens, you can't really control it and for me there's not too much you have to change. I think a lot of times you can go back to the drawing board, but I think it just comes down to looking at some details that need cleaning up and a lot of the times it's not huge adjustments, it's little adjustments. I've played goalie for 15 years so you just kind of wash something like that and it happens to everybody and you don't like when it happens, but you just keep pushing forward."

Ellis told me he has a short memory and he got over it by the next day.

The Sabres are 29th in the NHL defensively with a 3.64 goals against. There's nothing the goaltenders can do about the five guys in front of them, so what can the two of them do to help out?

"As a goalie you want to give your team a chance to win every night and it's what we both focus on, but at the same time it's a team game and they're bailing us out just as much as we're bailing them out, so 'Upie' and I just battle every night, do whatever we can to help the team in front of us and I know they want to do the same too."

Ellis is 1-1-0 with a 3.19 goals against and .864 save percentage.

The Sabres have points in five out of six games going 2-1-3, but they're still dead last in the Atlantic Division and are 13th in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo is three points out of a playoff spot.

Zach Benson has assists in five out of six games. Jack Quinn is on a four-game points streak and has four goals and five assists for nine points in five games.

At 6-5-1 the Sharks hold onto the second Wild Card position in the West. Macklin Celebrini has five goals and 10 assists for 15 points in 10 games.

For the last five games, goalies Alex Nedeljkovic and Yaroslav Askarov have alternated. If that holds true, it's Askarov's turn. He's 3-4-0 with a 3.43 goals against and .883 save percentage.

The Sharks are 5-for-11 on the power play in their last three games and 7-for-21 in their last five games. They coming off a six-game Eastern road swing and went 3-2-1.

This is a radio only game so the only place to hear Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray is WGR Sports Radio 550. Join Brian Koziol and me at 9:30 for the pregame when you'll hear from Ruff, Ellis and Tyson Kozak.