Jake Oettinger sat and saw it all. He sat right next to ESPN’s Ray Ferraro for the final 52 minutes. He had a good view of the train wreck another fine Stars’ season had become since he was pulled just 7:09 into a 6-3 defeat, a Game 5 series-ending loss to the Edmonton Oilers at the AAC.
Oettinger had surrendered a power-play goal to Corey Perry with Edmonton working its usual tic-tac-toe through the Stars’ slumping penalty kill, then gave up a goal on a breakaway to former Stars’ third liner Mattias Janmark.
Two shots, two goals.
With that, coach Pete DeBoer called timeout, yelled at his team and then, with Oettinger already having skated back into the faceoff circle toward the crease, shouted at his goalie to get off the ice. Casey DeSmith, no doubt surprised by the turn of events, skated into the fray.
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Otter is somewhat beloved here but he finishes the Western Conference finals with a 1-4 record in his starts and an .853 saves percentage. DeBoer is mostly appreciated here, and he has a great Game 7 record, but who cares if his team can’t go that deep when it counts?
Who had the Dallas Stars’ 2024-25 season going out like this?
DeBoer’s comments were more than a little interesting.
“I didn’t blame it all on Jake,’’ DeBoer said. “But you know, the reality is if you go back to last year’s playoffs, he’s lost six of seven games to Edmonton, and we gave up two goals on two shots in an elimination game. So it was partly to spark our team, and partly that the status quo had not been working.’’
If you’re wondering what this means for Jake “Status Quo” Oettinger for next season, so do I.
In the end, there was just one game’s difference between what the Stars achieved this spring and what they did the last two years. After losing to Vegas and Edmonton in six, the Stars fell to the Oilers in five games after losing four in a row.
Oettinger did not speak after the game and apparently did not speak during the game. “I didn’t say a word to him,’’ Ferraro said. “There’s a time for kidding around, and this wasn’t it.’’
Related:Five thoughts from Stars-Oilers Game 5: A familiar ending to Dallas’ season
Oettinger was outplayed by Stuart Skinner in the final series, no doubt about it, although it would be crazy to portray him as Dallas’ No. 1 scapegoat for this collapse. When the three losses that got you into this desperation game were by scores of 3-0, 6-1 and 4-1, it’s probably worth a discussion of the offense and where it vanished at crunch time this spring.
Remember all those hat tricks and magical moments from Mikko Rantanen, the savior acquired from Colorado by way of Carolina at the trade deadline? No goals against Edmonton. At even strength, the Stars had a very quiet final month, relying heavily on power-play goals to keep advancing.
“I thought we played two good rounds,’’ Rantanen said, “and then Edmonton made it hard for us and we didn’t push through.’’
DeBoer didn’t mince words about his team, either.
“On paper, we might have had the best team we’ve had here. But I’m not sure it was the best team,’’ DeBoer said. “The way we ended the season [seven-game losing streak] I think bled into the playoffs a little bit. Which doesn’t sit right with me. We found a way to get through two really good teams, but that was a bit of a red flag for me.’’
After going 10-9 in the playoffs the last two years, the Stars went 9-9 this time and it feels more like a losing playoff run, if such a thing is possible when a team advances to the Western Conference finals. There remains an obvious point of pride, eliminating really good teams like Colorado and Winnipeg, the Presidents’ Trophy winner, in order to get here. But when you make this deep of a journey three straight years, you feel like you have to crack through and advance soon enough.
This reminds me more of the early 80’s Cowboys with Danny White leading the team into the post-Staubach era and losing consecutive NFC title games at Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington. No shame in any of that. One of those games became legendary in NFL history (“The Catch”) and the other two at least make for popular remembrances in Philly and the nation’s capital. The Cowboys kept thinking they were close, but they really weren’t and an ugly ending was just a few years down the road for everyone.
The Stars have a lot of young talent but they play in a West that’s always going to have challenges all the way through the playoffs. Last year’s series with the Oilers was more competitive with Dallas leading 2-1 before Edmonton took control. This illustrated that the Stars did not gain ground on the defending Western Conference champs.
That’s bad when general manager Jim Nill trades for Mikael Granlund and he trades for Rantanen and he sends three first-round picks and a few other picks and a really nice young player in Logan Stankoven packing. The run for the 2025 Stanley Cup was on.
It didn’t happen.
DeBoer has now made eight conference finals with New Jersey, San Jose, Vegas and Dallas, and his teams reached the Final twice but … still no Cup. Not coming to Dallas this summer, either.
The coach had something to say about that, too.
“There’s no doubt the two best teams are playing for the Cup,’’ he said.
With Carolina having been eliminated 25 hours earlier, shouts of “We’re No. 3” will be the order of business for Stars’ fans this summer.
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