After 57 minutes, it looked like the Dallas Stars were going to do it. They would remain undefeated while giving the Vegas Golden Knights, who eliminated them in last year’s Western Conference Finals, their first loss of the season.
Throughout the game, Vegas looked every bit like the reigning Stanley Cup Champions. They seemed to dictate the flow of things in the first period, and although they never led the score, that feeling remained throughout the second and third. As the game clock was winding down, it felt like Dallas was going to secure a win they might not necessarily have deserved, in large part due to a Joe Pavelski shot off a faceoff that ricocheted in early in the third.
But then, with three minutes left, rookie Kaedan Korczak, who had already scored his first goal of his NHL career earlier, ripped a shot from the point. William Karlsson, one of the few original misfits still remaining on the Golden Knights’ roster, then made a beautiful tip to send it past Oettinger.
Just like that, a regulation win slipped through the Stars’ fingers, and they were heading to overtime once more. Once again, despite some decent looks, Dallas couldn’t score at 3-on-3 and we headed to the shootout. Only this time, only Matt Duchene scored, and Jake Oettinger let in two shots, giving Vegas the win.
An optimist would look back on the fact that Vegas seemed to largely out chance Dallas and, by extension, “deserved” the win, so we should just be glad that Dallas managed to get a point out of it. And it’s not as if Dallas played badly — had they secured the two points, it’d be hard to argue that Vegas had been robbed. Although, kind of, yeah — it’s just that the robber would have had a name: Jake Oettinger.
Before the Stars’ season started, I made my annual list of bold predictions, which are usually silly with a grain of truth to them. The first prediction was that Oettinger would unanimously win the Vezina, which in today’s NHL seems pretty much impossible — if Carey Price can win the Hart Trophy as a goaltender but have three GMs think (or at least claim) he wasn’t the best goaltender, who could secure all 32 votes?
But if you get rid of the bold part and just take the base prediction (Oettinger wins the Vezina) at face value… I mean, I know it’s only been two games so far, but Oettinger looks crisp. You could honestly argue that all three non-shootout goals against him so far this season weren’t his fault, with the first two being screens and the second just being a beautiful tip.
Everywhere else, Oettinger has consistently stepped up and made some fantastic saves. Dallas kept putting Vegas on the power play (including a 1:28 5-on-3), and yet they went 0-4. Jack Eichel shot the puck eight times, and yet he didn’t manage so much as a point. Oettinger has looked every part of the elite goaltender people believe he is (becoming), and so far proving that last year’s playoff slump was just that: a slump.
And it’s not as if Oettinger was the only star; Thomas Harley was out there breaking scales, Craig Smith was the first UFA acquisition to score a goal (and point), even Jani Hakanpää and Ryan Suter put in some quality performances on the PK. Wyatt Johnston led the Stars’ forwards in time on ice, for goodness sake!
But at the end of the day, Oettinger was why the Stars were so close to securing the win. And he was the driving factor in why they won against the St. Louis Blues in the season opener as well. Sure, having an elite goalie is great, but you can’t rely on them all the time. The Stars’ scorers have to start… well, scoring more frequently if they want to truly be considered a Stanley Cup Favorite.
…or maybe I’m being melodramatic and overanalyzing a pair of games because simply writing “yeah Dallas almost won but didn’t, that sucks” just falls a bit flat. I’ll leave that up to your own optimism (or lack thereof) to decide.