‘But Mostly Jake’: Glen Gulutzan Credits Jake Oettinger After Dallas Stars Get Outplayed For 40 Minutes Against Columbus Blue Jackets

DALLAS — Jake Oettinger made 24 saves on 25 shots Saturday night, as the Dallas Stars held off the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 at American Airlines Center. Columbus outshot Dallas 25-17.

The Blue Jackets also outhit the Stars 33-10 and won 60% of the faceoffs. Dallas scored both of its non-empty-net goals in the first period.

Oettinger came into the night with a 1.69 goals-against average, fifth in the NHL. He had allowed seven goals over his previous two outings as Dallas lost back-to-back games to the New Jersey Devils and Montreal Canadiens.

“I thought we played a good first period,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We played pretty direct, our power play scored us a goal, which gave us some energy. But obviously, the difference in the game was Jake.”

“I thought we got outplayed for 40. We were in our back half too much,” Gulutzan continued. “We’re not playing our best hockey right now and you need something to bail you out. I thought it was a little bit of our power play, but mostly Jake.”

With the win, Oettinger moved to 7-3-1 this season. He has stopped 211 of the 229 shots he has faced, a .921 save percentage. He also has three shutouts.

Glen Gulutzan Says Dallas Stars Defended Too Much

Dallas led 2-0 after one period on goals from Mikko Rantanen and Thomas Harley, then spent long stretches in its own end. The Stars blocked 14 shots. Tyler Myers had three of them, the most on the team.

“I thought we defended too much,” Gulutzan said. “We defended hard and blocked shots, but we shouldn’t have been in that position. I thought we could have pushed a little bit more. I liked the way we defended. But our best defender was Jake.”

In the final minute of the first period, Oettinger turned aside Zach Werenski after the Columbus defenseman got loose in front. He stopped Kent Johnson from close range during the Blue Jackets’ only power play in the second, and he got a piece of an Adam Fantilli shot at the end of the period to keep it 2-0.

Esa Lindell was back on the top pair with Miro Heiskanen after missing five games with a lower-body injury. Dallas had allowed 10 goals in the two games before he returned.

“Like we’ve seen, it’s hard to win in this league,” Lindell said. “Every team tries to push … but we stood strong, and then Jake made some saves. Got those big points again.”

Jake Oettinger’s Shutout Bid Ends At 6:21 Of The Third

Oettinger appeared to give up a goal at 2:23 of the third period, when Valeri Nichushkin scored from the slot. Dallas challenged for offside, and video review overturned the goal because Columbus was offside on the zone entry at 2:11.

The shutout ended four minutes later. Damon Severson took a feed from Werenski off a faceoff play and beat Rantanen to the far post for a tap-in at 6:21.

Columbus pushed for the tying goal over the final 13 minutes and pulled Jet Greaves for an extra attacker late. Arttu Hyry ended it with an empty-net goal with 0.3 seconds left.

“It’s frustrating not getting a result, for sure,” Severson said. “We felt that we had really good second and third periods and played our game, had some chances. Just weren’t able to get that tying goal, unfortunately.”

The Stars have allowed 30 goals in 14 games. Dallas entered Saturday allowing the fewest goals in the league.

Oettinger and the Stars visit the Washington Capitals on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT before a rematch at Columbus on Thursday.