“You gotta have your players’ back,” Hellebuyck said on the podcast. “I know as a goalie when your coach has your back you can feel it and it makes you care so much more about being on the team and doing all the right things for them, and producing for them.”
Dallas Stars coach Pete DeBoer stated that the decision to pull Oettinger was made to try and spark the team after falling into a 2-0 deficit early in an elimination game.
The Oilers ultimately won the game 6-3, eliminating the Stars from the playoffs, with four more goals scored on Jake Oettinger’s replacement; but hindsight is 20-20, of course.