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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Oettinger Appreciation Thread

The Stars are tied 2-2 with the Flames, and it’s all thanks to the man in net. Plus, the NHL Draft Lottery is tonight, the Islanders fire Barry Trotz, and more.

Let’s not talk about last night’s game right away. Or, at least, let’s only talk about the positive: Jake Oettinger is really good at hockey — the Stars’ netminder leads all goalies this postseason with a .960 SV%.

He’s also the second youngest goaltender (youngest starter), and outside of some relief efforts in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final, this is his first professional playoff experience. And he’s loving every minute of it:

“This is what it’s all about, it’s playoff hockey,” Oettinger said. “When I was younger, every night was playoff hockey, so being in the position I’m in now is what I’ve been preparing my whole life for.”

As a first round draft pick in 2017, expectations were always high for Oettinger. But he didn’t turn into a playoff superstar overnight — a big influence on his game has been the wealth of goaltending experience already on the roster when he first arrived in Texas:

“He’s been around guys like Anton [Khudobin] and seeing [Braden] Holtby’s work ethic and being around guys like [Ben Bishop], he’s kind of come into the perfect environment. He’s done a great job,” [Tyler] Seguin said.

You can read more from Mike Heika here.

Stars Stories

Okay, elephant in the room: Dallas lost badly last night, and Rick Bowness was not happy.

Game 5 will be on Wednesday, and it’ll be a little earlier than the others in Calgary:

Around the League

Some consolation for Dallas: at least 6/8  of the playoff series will be going to 6 games.

  • It took overtime, but the Florida Panthers were able to tied the series against the Washington Capitals with a 3-2 win. [Japers’ Rink]
  • And you thought Dallas played bad — the New York Rangers are facing elimination after a 7-2 blowout by the Pittsburgh Penguins. [Pensburgh]
  • Finally, we have our sole sweep of the first round, as the Colorado Avalanche took out the Nashville Predators 5-3. [Mile High Hockey]/

That game featured two of this year’s Norris Trophy finalists, with Cale Makar and Roman Josi getting the nod alongside Victor Hedman:

Tonight is the NHL Draft Lottery — Down Goes Brown gives his annual “power rankings:”

In a very unexpected announcement, the New York Islanders fired Barry Trotz yesterday:

It was certainly, err, a choice they made:

The question now, of course, is where does he end up?

Speaking of firings, Pierre McGuire’s time with the Ottawa Senators has come to a quick end:

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