Jake Oettinger has gone more than two full games without allowing a goal. On Thursday night in Buffalo, that stretch reached 146 minutes and 55 seconds.
The Dallas Stars goaltender stopped all 26 shots he faced in a 4-0 win over the Sabres at KeyBank Center, his second consecutive shutout after blanking the San Jose Sharks 5-0 on Monday. NHL.com credited him with 13 saves in that earlier win. Dallas improved to 2-2-0 with its second straight victory.
It is the second time in Oettinger's career that he has posted back-to-back shutouts. He becomes the third goaltender in Stars franchise history to string consecutive shutouts more than once, joining Ed Belfour and Cesare Maniago, who each did it three times, according to NHL.com's game notes.
The current scoreless run sits just short of his personal best of 154:20, set from March 28 through April 7, 2024.
Early pressure, then a locked door
Buffalo had looks early. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff pointed to "two real good chances in the first five minutes" that his club failed to finish, and he said the team's starts have to improve after Buffalo trailed by multiple goals in each of its past three games. Once Dallas opened the scoring, Oettinger and the skaters in front of him tightened the game.
Jason Robertson snapped a low blocker-side shot past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen at 9:03 of the first on a 2-on-1 with Mikko Rantanen. Sam Steel made it 2-0 at 9:36 of the second, and Rantanen and Roope Hintz added goals later in the period for a 4-0 final. Luukkonen finished with 14 saves.
Rantanen said the Stars' skating set the tone. "We had our legs again, I think that's the key," he said, according to NHL.com. "Playing well, you need to skate well, and I think the last two games we've been playing really fast.
