Jake Oettinger's goals-against average sits at 1.00. In half of his six appearances this season, he has not allowed a goal at all.
Oettinger made 19 saves Saturday night as the Dallas Stars beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 at United Center, his third shutout of the young season. According to NHL.com, no goaltender in Stars history had recorded three shutouts through his first six appearances of a season.
The AP said the clean sheet was the 19th of his career, kept him atop the league in shutouts and lowered his goals-against average to 1.00.
He did not pretend it was all him.
"You got to get lucky, a couple of posts tonight," Oettinger told NHL.com. "Guys have played well in front of me. I feel like my game is in a good spot. Yeah, guys have played really well, committed to playing good defense, and that's what happens."
A first period seen two ways
The two sides did not agree on how the scoreless first period went. The AP account had Dallas controlling it, outshooting Chicago 12-5 while Spencer Knight made several saves in tight. Chicago coach Jeff Blashill told NHL.com his team had the better of the chances at even strength and needed one of them to go in for momentum.
Either way, Oettinger was not beaten, and Chicago captain Connor Bedard said the Blackhawks wasted power-play time in the first two periods that could have changed the game.
Once Jason Robertson scored on the power play at 4:58 of the second period, the Stars took over. Arttu Hyry scored twice, Roope Hintz added a goal in the third, and Dallas outshot Chicago 32-19 for the night, per the CBS Sports box score.
Oettinger's late work was mostly about concentration, including a point-blank stop on Cole Smith with about six minutes remaining, as described in the AP account.
Blashill credited the Stars' structure as much as the goalie. "They're a good defensive team," he said. "I think the numbers bear that out."
