How Jake Oettinger is catching fire ahead of playoffs

Jake Oettinger has an easy “tell.”

When the Stars goalie is really feeling it, he’ll take a puck that he just devoured with his glove and flip it with clear disdain to the faceoff circle so that a linesman can recycle it on an ensuing faceoff. It’s what the lanky netminder does when he has swagger, when he knows he’s on his game.

That flip was missing early in this season. After a bumpy playoff performance and offseason surgery, Oettinger wasn’t in his groove. The man who was top five in the NHL through his first three seasons (2.42 GAA, .916 save percentage) was hovering around 40th heading into the All-Star Break (3.04, .900).

In recent weeks, the 25-year-old has fought hard to get his confidence back, and it shows with a 10-1-0 record in his last 11 decisions with a 1.54 GAA and .941 save percentage. On Thursday, he helped Dallas clinch the best record in the Western Conference by outdueling St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington in a 2-1 shootout win.

“He looks confident. He looks like he’s back,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “It wasn’t just tonight. He’s been building his game for a while now.”

Oettinger made two spectacular saves in the game, diving across the crease to stop a Scott Perunovich shot that seemed destined to land in an empty net and then making a nonchalant paddle save on Robert Thomas in overtime. Mix that with a three-for-three performance in the shootout and Oettinger was clearly the star of the game. But DeBoer is right – this has been coming for several weeks now.

That said, it hasn’t been easy.

Oettinger admits he was struggling with his confidence and needed people like goalie coach Jeff Reese to help get him back in the right state of mind.

“Only myself and the people close to me know the stuff that I’ve been through,” Oettinger said.

DeBoer said the challenge for goalies and high-end scorers is to be able to fight through the distractions and mental challenges. That’s what makes them special.

“I think particularly with goal scorers and goalies, it’s a huge confidence position,” DeBoer said. “There’s a reason goal scorers are so streaky, and I think goaltending has a part of that, too. When you’re feeling good about your game, you’re seeing pucks, pucks are hitting you, you’re getting those posts or those empty-net saves at the right time. And when you’re not, it’s not.”

But when you have to battle through the tough times, you appreciate the good ones.

“It’s been a tough year at some points,” Oettinger said. “I learned a lot about myself and the people around me that are there for me. Our goalie coach, Jeff Reese, and other goalie coaches that I have that believe in me wholeheartedly. They helped me through those tough times and I think the people close to me believed I could turn my game around and get it to where it is now. I’m just proud of how I finished the season and thankful for the people who really believed I could get here when some people didn’t think I was going to.”

One of the keys for Oettinger when he has the swagger is it helps keep the doubt out. DeBoer said he can tell when his goalie is confident.

“He’s not overthinking things, he’s just reacting,” DeBoer said. “With our group, the way we play, if he can play that way and make a couple of huge saves a night when we do have breakdowns, because we don’t have a lot of them, we’re going to be really tough to beat.”

And that confidence spreads throughout the team. Miro Heiskanen said the defensemen definitely have confidence to get up ice and join the play because of Oettinger. And Jason Robertson said there is just a realization of how good the team can be when Oettinger is on his game.

“It’s great to see he has that mojo going into the playoffs,” Robertson said. “He definitely uses that.”

The fact Oettinger is in the place he is obviously has a lot to do with the optimism. The fact he fought back through all of this “stuff” might mean even more.

“It’s probably the first big adversity he’s faced in his pro career as a starter, and I think those kinds of things harden you and battle scar you, and I think that’s great,” DeBoer said. “He’ll be better for it. I’m glad he’s out of it and looking like himself again, but he had to work for that. There was a lot of work put into that.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.