But Oettinger has been pulled in his past two games, including allowing five goals on 19 shots Tuesday to the Montreal Canadiens, and that was a tough lesson.
And while the Stars were unable to capitalize enough offensively, they created a season-high 111 shot opportunities and maybe could've hung in had Montreal not scored five times.
"It's my job to make those saves when our team gives up chances," Oettinger said. "We played really well, and to not be able to make those saves for the guys really hurts me. I just want to be able to help this team win, and I haven't been able to do that the last few games, so it's really disappointing."
Oettinger's numbers have vacillated this season, and he definitely hasn't been at his best in recent games, so there's some concern on how he might come out of this slump. The Stars play back-to-back games twice in the next week, so there's a real chance the challenges will get tougher for the team and for Oettinger.
Stars coach Rick Bowness said he believes Oettinger will battle through.
"These are growing pains," Bowness said. "He's going to win a lot of games for this franchise down the road, but there are growing pains that come with that to get him there. He has the character to battle through this, learn from it and fight back. He's going to win a lot of games going forward for us. There are going to be hiccups and there are going to be tough nights. The elite athlete will overcome it and we consider him to be an elite athlete."
Oettinger played very well in training camp, handled the decision to send him to the minors with maturity, and then has been very good at home in his call back up to the Stars. He said he doesn't have any specific drills or practice plans that'll address the issues he's dealing with, but added that he simply plans to continue to work hard and fight to get his game back to where it was.
"It's hard," he said after the loss. "I just go to bed tonight and wake up tomorrow and try to move on. Focus like it never happened. It's easier said than done, but the good goalies who stick around for a long time are able to do that. It's the first time that I've gone through something like this at this level, so I'm going to lean on the people around me and work like crazy and make sure the next time I'm in a game, I'm 100% on my game and I'm helping this team win."
Bowness said he expects nothing less from his hard-working goalie.
"The elite athlete will fight through it," Bowness said. "The nature of the beast in being a pro athlete is it's not always going to go your way, and the great ones find a way to fight back and push back and keep getting better and overcome these hiccups, and he will."