As the Stars look to close out their best-of-seven series Friday in Las Vegas and move onto a second round meeting with Colorado, maybe the biggest player on their side is Jake Oettinger.
The 25-year-old goalie has really stepped up in the last three games, stopping all 42 shots faced in third periods and overtime this series, and helping to forge three one-goal wins.
“He really has the ability to go to another level at the most important time of the game regardless of what’s happened earlier in the game,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “He’s got that mentality that great goaltenders do that they can go to that next level at the most important point in the game.”
That moment came in Game 5 when Chandler Stephenson blew through the Stars defense and had a breakaway on Oettinger. The big goalie stuck out his right pad and made the stop with under three minutes left in the game. It was huge for a lot of reasons.
VGK@DAL: Oettinger with a great save
“He makes those big saves and timely saves, and you need a guy like that this time of year,” forward Tyler Seguin said. “We have so much confidence in him.”
Seguin was on the ice when Stephenson broke free and the specter of overtime loomed large.
“I said a prayer, but I should have just trusted Jake,” Seguin said with a smile.
Matt Duchene was also on the ice and trailing behind Stephenson.
Read more: https://www.nhl.com/stars/news/first-shift-dallas-stars-look-to-land-knockout-blow-in-game-6-against-vegas-golden-knights
