Game 2 AfterThoughts: Jake Oettinger's Fabulous Frenzy

The Stars goaltender led his team to two points. Other people helped.

Nathan MacKinnon, making a face at Mikko Rantanen before the opening faceoff / Victory+

Do you remember the last time a game in Colorado didn’t have this sort of breathless feel to it, where half the game (or more) was spent watching Dallas weather an onslaught of chances from a team where Nathan MacKinnon seemed to be on the ice every other shift?

Back in 2007, I recall games in Detroit having this feel of facing a giant at their best. A few years after that, it was Chicago and Vancouver.

But for at least half a decade now, traveling to Colorado has involved the Stars employing a specific sort of hatches-battening where they seem to just accept their fate, take a lot of punches, and try to land a strategic counterblow when they can. And sometimes, it actually works. More often than seems fair to expect, even.

The regular season has seen the Stars go something like 2-6-1 now in Denver over their last nine games, assuming I didn’t misread a graphic on the broadcast. And I believe they have surrendered at least four goals in every single one of those contests. Including this one.

But forget how it feels on the Dallas end of things for a moment, because how must it feel to be the Avalanche, after a game like this one, or in four of the seven meaningful games between these two last spring?

Bad, probably. Like, the specific sort of bad that comes right after you buy a new outfit, only for a seagull to land a bullseye just as you’re getting out of your car at the beach. (This may not be as relatable an experience in Texas, I am realizing. Do grackles do this?)

The Avalanche finally got a Stanley Cup for Nate MacKinnon a few years ago, but they notably did so without having to face Dallas or Seattle—the teams who have eliminated them early in the playoffs for three years straight now. And games like this have to dredge up all sorts of nasty memories about those last three years, this one perhaps more than most.

I have to give Glen Gulutzan credit for playing into the drama a bit in the shootout, sending Matt Duchene and Mikko Rantanen over the boards to a serenade of boos in hope of vindictive heroics. Because the same person who dealt the Avalanche what you could certainly argue to be the most painful playoff loss in their history ended up scoring the clinching shootout goal, and you know that’s going to stick in their craw just a bit.

Really though, outside of a great assist on Thomas Harley’s goal, this game wasn’t as Mikko-centric as it might have been. Instead, this game was all about the Stars goaltender whose handiwork had a quieter but nearly equal part in the recent Colorado heartbreak. Because when Oettinger froze in the crease after MacKinnon’s shot thunked into his pad, you could practically hear the PTSD echoing around Ball Arena.

MacKinnon was incredible in this game, scoring a marvelous power play goal and setting up two more. But just like we saw after MacKinnon scored seven goals in seven games back in April, even superstar-caliber contributions haven’t been enough for his club to overcome a team that seems destined to keep toppling a mile-high Goliath.

Far better to be Dallas, then. Even if they still have work to do.

“We learned we have to get better. We were outplayed,” Gulutzan said afterward.

And yes, you obviously can’t spot Colorado (of all teams) a few extra power plays and 17 more shots on goal if you want to win on the regular. A good coach can’t call this an acceptable performance, and Gulutzan didn’t.

Then again, this was kind of how it went in the spring, too. Oettinger kept the Stars in a few games long enough to snag four wins, and Mikko Rantanen was fairly quiet, right up until he needed to make a big play.

Gulutzan didn’t run from the drama tonight, but rather embraced it. And I have to think that sort of approach goes a long way in telling his team how confident he is in their ability to handle big moments. If your number comes up, he expects you to answer the bell. And tonight, that number was 29—the green one.

Gulutzan said flat-out that he hadn’t seen a goaltending performance like Oettinger’s tonight ever since—yes, he said it—Oettinger’s incredible seven-game series against Calgary back in 2022. But Gulutzan also said the game left “a bit of a sour taste” in their collective mouths, as the Stars lost too many battles.

In other words, he saw the same game you did.

“He stole us the game, plain and simple,” Gulutzan said afterward. “He stole us the game, and there’s probably nothing else to talk about, personnel-wise.”

“We ended up getting some points today, but again, there’s growth that needs to take place.”

That growth will entail a lot of things, I’m sure. And since the Stars won’t face Colorado again until March, they’ll have plenty of time to mature. One suspects those games will feel a bit more tense than this one, hard as that might be to believe after weathering 65+ minutes of this action.

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Once you acknowledge the fact that Oettinger stole the Stars two points, this game was flat-out entertaining.

Sure, it might have been terrifying if you were a Stars fan, but given how much lower the stakes were in this one compared to recent contests, there could be some virtue in simply smirking at the result in light of the process. It’s a long season, after all; no harm grinning and pretending it was all part of the plan once in a while.

The final few minutes of regulation (and overtime) saw both teams with Grade-A chances to win this one, including Sam Steel standing all by his lonesome with the puck at the net front in the final few minutes, only for the puck to get popped straight up before Josh Manson clawed it away from the tempting netmouth.

As for the Stars, they seemed to think the last few minutes were intended as a prank on Jake Oettinger, asking him to stop the Avs’ top line and Norris defenseman time and time again for reasons that were probably to do with exhaustion as much as mirth.

“I think we had great stretches, and sometimes just let ‘em back in for no reason,” Oettinger said afterward.

Apt, indeed. But like they did on Thursday, the Stars came out on top of the action with two big points on the road. I’m not sure that’s the “Road Hockey” Gulutzan is exactly preaching, but the fact is, the Stars have managed not to crumble in the face of two crazy games in two tough buildings. That’s a better outcome than the opposite one to kick off a season.

“Yeah. Different types of chaos between the two games,” Thomas Harley said. “Tonight was kind of like holding back an avalanche. Glad we’ve got 29 back there to bail us out.”

Harley’s shameful pun aside, the unsatisfying conclusion that is the shootout felt about right. Neither team could land the killing blow or protect a lead, so you might as well hit the “end this madness” button, and that’s what happened.

If the Avalanche had scored on just one of their first four power plays, of course, this game would have looked a whole lot different. So again, we find ourselves pointing to the Stars’ penalty kill as a saving grace, as has so often been the case in prior years. With all the change, it must be at least a bit reassuring to know Alain Nasreddine’s group is picking up where they left off last year.

Esoteric Soundtrack of the Game (ESotG)

Lineups

The Stars began the game with this lineup, which was identical to what they began with in Winnipeg on Thursday:

Steel-Hintz-Rantanen
Blackwell-Duchene-Seguin
Robertson-Johnston-Bourque
Hryckowian-Faksa-Bastian

Lindell-Heiskanen
Harley-Lundkvist
Bichsel-Lyubushkin

Oettinger

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The Avalanche rolled this group, which I’m going to paste rather than type out in order to save myself 30 seconds.

Scott Wedgewood began in goal.

AfterThoughts

• I wonder about Gulutzan’s decision to put out the fourth line to start the third period on the road. Perhaps there’s some hope that they can start things off on the right foot and drive some energy into the group, and for the first half of their shift, they did exactly that. But the thing is, that gave Jared Bednar the ability to put out MacKinnon & Co. opposite Bastian, Faksa, and Blackwell. And with no disrespect to any of those players, they ended up getting sliced up pretty good the moment Colorado got the puck and headed the other way, and the game was tied almost immediately. As defensively stout as those players can be, it felt a bit like tempting fate.

• Speaking of tempting fate, I also wondered about putting out Esa Lindell with Hintz and Rantanen to start overtime. I suppose new coaches are always bound to try new things in overtime (and the shootout, as we saw) until they land on their preferred game plan, but man, if Hintz hadn’t managed to change for Johnston before Lindell and Rantanen got caught out there for over a minute, things could’ve ended abruptly.

• Speaking of Wyatt Johnston, he said after the game that he actually was worried his stick might be broken as he was heading up the ice on his breakaway. That’s why he chose to deke Wedgewood rather than shoot—a deke which immediately negated any regret from the prior goal. It was a perfect example of what makes Johnston so special, as he made the perfect block and the perfect read, then pulled off a deke to restore the lead.

  • (That rhymed, but you don’t have to care.)

• The Stars did have momentum for a couple of stretches in this one, but only for a couple. One of the biggest ones came after the power play in the second period which was generated by the trip on Robertson. The Stars didn’t score on it, but they did generate momentum that Dallas desperately needed, after Colorado was doubling them up in shots halfway through the game (and for most of it, actually). Credit to Neil Graham’s group for at least using one of their (only) two power plays to get things going right again for a while.

• As for Jason Robertson, he was impacting the game in very Jason Robertson Ways, including his shot on a half-breakaway when it was 4-3 in the third. He looks fast tonight, or maybe it’s just that he isn’t recovering from a cyst removal or a knee injury, for once. You tell me what you think, based on this clip of him early in this one. Maybe an extra half-step or so?

• Oettinger made a couple of massive stops on Cale Makar, while Thomas Harley scored a goal with Wedgewood caught a bit too far out of his net. Nobody would seriously say Makar wasn’t still outstanding in this game, but if you’re an Avalanche fan, you’d probably like to see the defenseman you’re always bragging about at parties come up large on one of those, right?

• Speaking of Makar, you could see Rantanen barking at him for overselling the high-sticking call early in this one. Yes, the stick got his visor, but Makar made sure the officials saw it, even shaking his helmet down violently after whipping it back moments earlier. I suppose that’s what you need to do to draw penalties in today’s NHL, but I imagine Mason Marchment (who, you know, stones and glass houses) still has some thoughts on how Makar has gone about doing so.

• As always seems to happen in Denver, the Avs wound up with a familiar advantage in power plays. The double-minor by Lyubushkin was a tough one to take, and he probably would say he needs to keep his stick a tick lower. And like Dallas had done earlier, Colorado drew momentum after that penalty (albeit with a goal to juice it), and the Stars looked like they were hanging on for overtime, or even just a whistle of any kind. They would, indeed, hang on.

• Nils Lundkvist’s confidence has to be nearing an all-time high after these two games, right? Even with his imperfect read on Gavin Brindley’s first NHL goal, Lundkvist’s play to create Harley’s goal was one you don’t make if you aren’t feeling it just a tad, I think.

• By the way, credit where it’s due for a really nice bit of work from Victor Olofsson, who stayed with the puck after Harley poked it (after having lost interior to Olofsson already), causing Lundkvist to start coming over to support, leaving Brindley alone for his first NHL goal.

• Lian Bichsel also had a couple of “oh, shoot” moments in the first, though he came up with a big shot block to clean up his mess on the first one. He also took a hooking penalty early, but overall I’d still say he weathered this storm about as well as anyone in Dallas, which is to say barely. Growth is what it’s all about, and this game certainly seemed like one that puts hair on the ol’ chest.

• This goal didn’t count, but it was funny.

• On the earlier Avalanche power plays, the Stars looked pretty focused on shutting down Makar and MacKinnon, letting everyone else shoot. It worked, with Oettinger swallowing up multiple shots from tolerable areas, other than the first Lehkonen one-timer from the guts of the slot off the entry that he also got, somehow. But eventually, MacKinnon would get a shot off, and of course that one tied it up late.

• For my money, this Josh Manson high-sticking call on Wyatt Johnston should be a double-minor, blood or no.

• This pass on the Avalanche’s third (I think) goal just can’t get through.

Lundkvist looked like he was pointing for Johnston to take the puck-carrier (as I believe a defenseman, in Gulutzan’s system, isn’t supposed to telescope out to the boards here if a forward can do so instead), but neither of them prevented the most dangerous pass here.

• The Stars were getting their hackles up at times, and it was important to see Justin Hryckowian stand up after Heiskanen took a hit that probably should have been a penalty on Ross Colton. I get that Heiskanen turns here, but Colton is absolutely committed to this hit eight strides before he arrives.

• But good on Hryckowian for jumping in for his teammate.

• Robertson drew a power play after the Avalanche got up 2-1, and it was a big moment, as Robertson nearly converted after a beautiful deke to pull Wedgewood completely out of the net (as Wedgewood does occasionally find himself), only for Josh Manson to pull some heroics to deny him.

• Nate Bastian’s first Stars goal came on a nice play down low from Esa Lindell. Take that sentence and think about it for a while.

• Finally, think about this Robertson deflection, which comes from Harley after an icing by Colorado under pressure from the Stars’ fourth line.

• As much as starting the fourth line in the third period didn’t work out, their hard work to force an icing that the Stars’ top guys capitalized on was absolutely worthy of appreciation. In a game like this, everyone is going to have a moment or two they’d rather forget, but that doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate the nice plays, too.

• Finally, let me just get it out of my system: if Colorado fans are booing Rantanen because he scored big goals and knocked them out last spring, then that’s great. Sports are for those sorts of rivalries, and Rantanen knows and appreciates that as well as anyone.
  
  But right now, I really don’t think anyone other than Rantanen and Avs management knows what prompted them to pull the trigger on trading a franchise cornerstone in January last year. And from the tone of some comments I’ve heard on the Colorado side (even from some people in the organization), it sure does seem like some people think Rantanen was “greedy,” and that he “forced his way out” of Colorado. And I’m sorry, but that just doesn’t seem true, based on what we know.
  
  Rantanen has been clear that he didn’t expect to be traded—certainly MacKinnon didn’t expect it either. And until it happened, Rantanen always thought he would end up staying in Colorado. He still refers to a lot of the players over there as his “brothers” in conversation, and I believe he means that sincerely.
  
  In fact, what we do know is that Rantanen was traded to Carolina on January 25. Six days later, the NHL released their projected salary cap increases for the next three years. If Colorado’s management hadn’t traded Rantanen six weeks before the trade deadline, would they have been more optimistic about finding a way to keep him in the fold without losing other big pieces, given the additional cap room we know is coming?
  
  And if Colorado’s management hadn’t been so hasty, would they at least have been able to ensure they traded him outside the division late enough to ensure he wouldn’t get flipped back to Dallas, where he would end up eliminating them in one of the most traumatizing games of the decade, right up there with Matt Duchene’s overtime winner in 2024?
  
  I don’t know. Neither does anyone else paying for a ticket in Colorado. And yeah, boo to your hearts content and all that if you want to do so; but from where I’m sitting, Colorado fans probably have just as much reason to be booing the GM who punted on a beloved part of their 2022 Cup team because he wanted a fair contract extension—one that will probably end up being less expensive than what they wind up giving to Martin Nečas.
  
  Then again, if the boos keep resulting in Rantanen goals, I suppose he’d be the first to tell them to keep ‘em coming. He doesn’t seem the least bit bothered.