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DALLAS — Forty-eight hours after he was pulled against the Winnipeg Jets, Jake Oettinger stopped all 22 shots he faced in the Dallas Stars’ 2-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night at American Airlines Center.
It was the 20th shutout of his career and his league-leading fourth this season. He is the fifth goaltender in Stars/North Stars history to reach 20, and he improved to 10-4-1.
On Thursday, Winnipeg scored 5 goals in the second period of an 8-3 win. Oettinger was pulled one minute into the third after giving up 6 goals on 27 shots, his most this season. He had allowed 14 goals across his previous three starts.
Oettinger said after that game that it was not the first time he had been pulled. He also said he cared more about his 4-2-0 record over his previous six starts than about his numbers.
Saturday, the Stars allowed 22 shots, five fewer than Oettinger faced in the 41 minutes he played against the Jets. Buffalo had 11 of them through two periods.
“It felt great. Guys played great in front of me, and everyone just did their job,” Oettinger said. “Kind of was impressive how well we defended after last game. Just flushed it, and guys played great.”
Jamie Benn gave Dallas the lead with the 1,000th point of his career at 16:23 of the second period. Wyatt Johnston added a power-play goal with 42 seconds left, and Alex Lyon made 28 saves for Buffalo.
Jake Oettinger Holds Buffalo Sabres Off Through Third-Period Push
Buffalo’s first power play of the third period came when Jason Robertson went off for slashing at 4:36. At 7:23, Thomas Harley and Rasmus Dahlin were sent off together for slashing. Sam Steel was called for tripping at 8:06, and Buffalo had a 4-on-3 for 1:17.
Later in the period, with the score still 1-0, Oettinger kicked out his right leg to stop Jack Quinn on a breakaway. He turned Quinn away again seconds later.
Oettinger made 11 saves in the third. Dallas killed all 5 Buffalo power plays, three in the first period and two in the third.
Buffalo managed 6 shots in the first period and 5 in the second. Oettinger was asked after the game whether he had felt more locked in than usual.
“Just one of those. The guys played so well in front of me the first two periods, and then I knew I was gonna have to put my footprint on the game,” Oettinger explained. “I wanted to be a difference maker and felt like I had the opportunity to do that tonight and was happy to make a couple good saves.”
“But there was so many big plays guys made in front of me, breaking up passes, blocking shots, stuff like that. It was a full defensive effort,” Oettinger continued.
Half of Buffalo’s 22 shots came after the second intermission, two nights after Stars coach Glen Gulutzan pulled Oettinger one minute into the third period against Winnipeg.
“Low-volume work through two periods, but then some quality, quality saves,” Gulutzan said. “So for me, that’s the true sign. It’s like I tell power play, PK, and goaltending, when are you getting these saves? And we got them when we needed them.”
Winnipeg had scored on 5 of its 14 shots in the second period Thursday. Saturday, Oettinger’s biggest saves came with Dallas protecting a one-goal lead, and Tyler Seguin was asked how much the bench fed off them.
“Ton. I mean, he was phenomenal tonight. I mean, he’s always pretty much phenomenal,” Seguin said. “… We were all off that last game, so we wanted to play better for him tonight too. But he was the top player.”
Oettinger faced 14 Winnipeg shots in the second period Thursday. Saturday’s third period was the busiest of his night.
“Huge. Especially in the third there. Just rock solid,” Benn said. “… To move on quick and get back in there and shut the door, it was nice to see.”
Buffalo has now been shut out by Oettinger in both meetings this season, including a 4-0 Dallas win in Buffalo on Oct. 8. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff told reporters Buffalo had four or five point-blank chances and needed to bury them, NHL.com reported.
Buffalo pulled Lyon for an extra attacker late. Zach Benson was called for goaltender interference at 18:39, and Johnston scored on the ensuing power play at 19:18.
Tyler Seguin Points To Players-Only Meeting As Dallas Stars Defend Again
Thursday’s loss was the first time Dallas had allowed 8 goals in a game since 2016, and it ended a four-game point streak. The players met without the coaches afterward.
“Everybody. You guys know what happened last game, and postgame, players only, and just wanted to get back to what we do best, which is how we defend, and everything else kind of takes care of itself,” Seguin explained.
Oettinger had talked after Thursday’s loss about the team needing to respond. Dallas outshot Buffalo 20-11 through two periods and 30-22 overall.
“I thought it was awesome. Just the talk, the little things in between periods, stuff like that,” Oettinger said. “I think guys were bought in and fired up and wanted to play hard for each other and prove that that was a one-off, and we did that.”
The shutout came 48 hours after the most lopsided loss of the Stars’ season. Benn was asked how much a quick response like that matters over a full season.
“It’s huge. I think we’ve done that more than a few times, so I’m not surprised that it happened tonight,” Benn explained.
Short-Handed Dallas Stars Finish The Shutout
The Stars did it without Miro Heiskanen, who missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury, as well as Lian Bichsel and Kyle Capobianco. Harley played 28:01 and Esa Lindell played 27:11. Kyle Burroughs and Trey Taylor formed the third pair. Burroughs, recalled from the AHL’s Texas Stars, logged 8:50 in his season debut.
“It’s a character win, really. To see the shutout and coming off what we did, [it] shows character. Guys asked me about that a couple days ago. I mean, it just shows it,” Gulutzan explained.
“So this isn’t a linear progression the whole way this season. You’re gonna get ups and downs, but you can see your character comes through,” Gulutzan continued.
Earlier this season, Oettinger went a career-best 188:52 without allowing a goal, a run that included the Oct. 8 shutout in Buffalo. It ended in an October loss at Pittsburgh, and Gulutzan put that one on the offense.
Dallas has now kept the Sabres off the scoreboard for 153:51 dating to April 15. Only the Washington Capitals have a longer active shutout streak against a single opponent.
The Stars play the second half of a back-to-back Sunday against the Florida Panthers at American Airlines Center, with puck drop at 7 p.m. CT.
“We gotta move on tomorrow, but I thought it was a good game tonight,” Gulutzan said.
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