First Shift 🏒
Pete DeBoer likes to use the phrase that he has an “honest team,” and no player might symbolize that better than Jake Oettinger.
The 26-year-old goalie has had his ups and downs in a five-year NHL career, but he’s usually the first person to talk about the weaknesses in his game and how he has to fix them.
In a six-week span starting in early February, Oettinger was in a 4-4-2 slump with a 3.39 GAA and .872 save percentage. Seeing as he was among the NHL leaders before February with a 26-11-1 record, a 2.32 GAA and a .912 save percentage, that was definitely seen as a problem. Oettinger dug in, did the work in practice with goalie coach Jeff Reese and backup goalie Casey DeSmith, and now seems to have exited to a very good place.
In his past three games, Oettinger is 3-0-0 with a 1.33 GAA and .964 save percentage. He is also on a five-game win streak.
“We have a good group and we help each other,” Oettinger said. “Casey helps me a lot. We push each other and we talk a lot with Reeser. We have a really tight room.”
In recent games, both Oettinger and DeSmith have helped the Stars earn wins when it looked like things could go awry. In games against Edmonton, Calgary and Seattle, the Stars easily could have gotten behind as the opposition has had dominant stretches of puck possession and shots on goal. In all three games, the goalies made a huge difference.
“Both of our goalies are amazing,” said Johnston. “When we’re not playing our best, they give us the opportunity to stay in every game, and that’s huge.”
During Oettinger’s “slump,” the team was also struggling to get the puck out of its own zone and often was losing the battle on the shot clock. Dallas has allowed the most shots on goal in the league in the month of March at 32.2 per game, and part of the solution to that problem going forward is better communication between the goalies and the defensemen in getting the puck out.
“We’re just trying to give D good passes so they can make quick plays and quick decisions,” Oettinger said. “It feels like whenever we make a good pass, or make a quick play, we have a good chance of getting it out of the zone. Breaking the puck out is so important, especially in the playoffs. It feels like every time I make a bad pass, we’re in the zone for a minute. If I make a good pass, and we then get it out of the zone, I feel like I helped make sure they didn’t get a scoring chance. That’s what I try to focus on.”
Oettinger is a rare netminder in that he already has 47 games of postseason experience at age 26. He has posted a 2.46 GAA and .915 save percentage, but he’s working to build on those numbers this year. The recent push is a reminder of just how much he means to the team’s success.
“I have worked over the past few weeks and have done things differently that I wanted to do, and it’s paying off right now,” he said. “I feel good about my game. I want to keep building on that and keep the momentum going into the playoffs.”
He said the work on puck possession is a good reminder just how much he and his teammates are intertwined, and also how one part of your game can help the other.
“It’s all connected, it’s all related,” Oettinger said. “Every part of everyone’s game has ups and downs and we’re going to get back to what we need to do to get ready for the playoffs.”
