Game 41 AfterThoughts: Halfway Done, Full Two Points, Jake Oettinger Goes the Extra Mile

The Stars have won seven games in a row, with points in nine straight contests. They are two points ahead of their pace last season through 41 games, and they’re in…pretty much the same spot. Here’s a graphic the broadcast showed during the postgame show on Victory+:

It’s a pretty stark reinforcement of what we talked about at D Magazine the other day: Rather than paper over subpar goaltending with scoring like they did last year, the Stars have papered over a lackluster power play and merely good scoring with excellent goaltending and defense. And given the talent on the roster, the power play should be more than fixable in the next 41 games. Though Dallas will have to start drawing more than one power play per game (they have just four in their last four) to do that, you’d think.

There are different recipes for getting to the postseason. I think you can read between the lines of what DeBoer has said this year to conclude that the Stars don’t care too terribly much where they finish, so long as it’s somewhere in the top three of the division. The trick is not to let complacency creep into your game. The Stars know how good they are, and how good they can be. But the season is so ding-danged long, and you can’t take anything for granted. Just ask the New York Rangers.

Tonight, for instance, felt like a playoff game according to Jake Oettinger. Things were messy and tense all night, and a 1-1 game went the distance before one of the Stars’ best players did what he has always done so well, and beat a goaltender.

Not just any goaltender, either. Sam Montembeault has tortured the Stars before, as the broadcast highlighted toward the end of a 0-0 first period the Stars deserved to have gotten a lead from.

One thing you’ll notice there is that, despite the high shot totals in those prior games, Montembeault let in at least three goals each time. But the Stars lost half of those games, and after a 17-7 advantage in shots on goal at the first intermission, the Stars appeared to be tempting fate once again, and the Canadiens roared out to a 5-0 shots advantage to start the second frame, testing Jake Oettinger with a couple of very good looks that he was able to handle, including two dangerous chance by Nick Suzuki.

Both goalies had a lot of work to do in the second period, but Montembeault stole the show for much of this one, as Dallas generated a goodly sum of second chances that required high levels of effort, whereas Oettinger had to face great initial chances, but largely dispatched them without further comment. But Oettinger’s workload would increase as the game went on, and he came up quietly huge a couple of times before shutting down Montreal thrice in the shootout. The only goal Oettinger allowed all night was a 5-on-3 one-timer that deflected off his own player’s stick.

It’s not a very likely matchup, but both of these goaltenders are on their respective country’s 4 Nations rosters. Maybe this game is a good example of why they got chosen, because there were a slew of chances that easily could have gone in, but both goaltenders forced the issue as long as they possible could, and the better one came out on top.

***

Mavrik Bourque grew up relatively close to Montreal, and you could tell even by all the media questions leading up to this one how much it means for a Quebecois to play an NHL game here. Bourque even skated sans chapeau (French expert here) before the game. He had a dream chance in the first period when he put a move on Sam Montembeault and tried for the wrap-around, only for the 4 Nations Face-Off goalie for Team Canada (one of) to pull a groin-splitting pad save at the post, drawing chants of his name from the crowd, and cries of agony from what we can assume were Bourque’s many guests.

Lane Hutson came into this game leading all NHL rookies in scoring. That’s especially remarkable for a defenseman, but watching one of his first shifts, you could see how he’s done it. Huston is crafty, and teammates are willing to feed him the puck even with a lot of pressure on him at the blue line. He has that ability to not only hold onto the puck while lanes open, but to pressure the forwards by daring them to overpress, lest he get by them entirely.

The Canadiens came out on a mission to lay the body on the Stars, and they did that in the first half, with Thomas Harley taking a couple of heavy hits he bounced back from. Matt Dumba also got into it with Josh Anderson after Dumba took a bump following an icing, and you could see Anderson giving some verbal vitriol after the two exchanged glove shots, and you wondered whether he was questioning Dumba’s getting into the altercation while wearing a full face shield.

Dallas/Montreal kerfuffle.

— DavidCastilloAC (@davidcastillo.bsky.social) 2025-01-12T00:33:30.649Z

Both players got tagged for roughing, but the officials gave Anderson the extra minor, and the Stars got a power play out of the exchange. Would you believe that the Stars did not score on the power play? Miro Heiskanen played all two minutes of it as well, which he has done not infrequently this year. And it almost worked, as the Stars had a great look right after the two minutes expired, but no dice.

In any case, the Canadiens jumped out to a 20-2 lead in hits, though that was as much a result of the Stars’ puck possession as Montreal’s aggressive play. Nonetheless, the physicality was noticeable, so this wasn’t purely a case of forechecking and chasing. The Habs were bent on making the Stars pay for getting to the good areas, and both teams executed those respective missions. Patrick Laine even got into the act, laying bit hits on Oskar Bäck and Roope Hintz in the middle frame.

Evgenii Dadonov had a beautiful look off a persistent bit of tic-tac-toe creation that ended with a Thomas Harley feed to give him a golden chance, but the puck went a bit too far into Dadonov’s skates, and by the time he kicked it to his stick, Montembeault was there to smother the attempt. This was an uncharacteristic night for Dadonov, who has been a bit of a sniper lately, scoring on great chances even when the rest of his team struggles to beat a given goaltender. But he also had a great chance in the third period when he broke into the zone with speed and got a Hintz lay-off, but he simply couldn’t find the five-hole on Montembeault.

Things began to go awry late in the second, when Matt Dumba took his third straight penalty for Dallas (going back to last game) on a cross check that sent Brendan Gallagher to a knee. And that wouldn’t likely have been a problem for the Stars’ excellent penalty kill, but Cole Caufield did a great job of taking advantage of some poor stick positioning by Colin Blackwell in the neutral zone, and the officials bought what Caufield sold, sending Montreal to a 5-on-3 opportunity. Both penalties were ones that aren’t always called, but it was foolhardy to take the risk to begin with, and neither was really a surprising call, even if you quibble with the particulars.

Laine quickly scored on the subsequent power play, likely because someone reminded him that he was playing the Dallas Stars during the second penalty call. It required a fortunate deflection off the stick of Ilya Lyubushkin to get past Oettinger, but good fortune is more plentiful when you have good advantages, and the Canadiens took the lead, 1-0. If my memory is correct, that was Laine’s 467th goal against the Stars. (Rough estimate.)

A scary moment happened after the ensuing faceoff, when an attempted clearance by Lyubushkin (which is to say, a slapshot) nailed the leg of linesman, Michel Cormier, sending him off the ice in clear distress. James Tobias had to manage both blue lines henceforth, and while it’s not a situation you ever want to see happen, I do admire the hustle in those situations. It reminds me of when I was umpiring youth softball as a teenager by myself, having to run to make the call at every base. Probably that was easier than calling an NHL game.

Mavrik Bourque started a bona fide points streak when he hit the score sheet for third game out of three on this road trip so far. His primary assist to Benn was a simple enough helper, but don’t overlook his subtle pick on the Montreal backchecker here, ensuring the onrushing Heiskanen would be open enough to force Kaiden Guhle to defend the pass rather than attack Benn, who only needed that much space to even things back up:

Patience pic.twitter.com/D8OmEv0hhF

— Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) January 12, 2025

In the final minute of the second, Logan Stankoven one-timed a feed that seemed to be labeled for the right side of the net, but because all goalies have an earpiece now that tells them when Stankoven is shooting, Montembeault made the outstanding save look easy, prolonging the drought. Stankoven had another golden chance nine minutes into the third, but Montembeault went full snow angel, and the Stars rookie continued his stay at the heartbreak hotel. Stankoven had seven shots on goal, but none of them went into it. The frustration at this point must be close to going from “high” to “eyeballs turned completely white.” But then, NHL players are better at managing their emotions than most (unless you touch their goaltender).

Bourque got nailed for a slashing penalty after what looked like a great backcheck to turn the puck over, and I think it was basically the slashing equivalent of how high-sticking penalties happen the moment a player puts a hand up to their face.

The Stars killed the penalty because it was only a one-man advantage, of course. But It was a pretty soft call, when you parse it. Though again, you could easily say that Bourque oughtn’t to be putting his stick that near the hands from behind the puck-carrier, and I wouldn’t argue with you.

Matt Duchene may have had the same pregame meal as Dadonov, because both players just looked a tad less effective than they’ve been for most of the season. It’s here where I think we ought to remember that Pete DeBoer mentioned that they called up Matěj Blümel primarily because they have some guys who might not be playing at 100%, and with the back-to-back tonight and tomorrow, it makes sense to have at least one extra forward. One wonders if one or both of those aforementioned veterans are on that list. But then, we’re just speculating here. Duchene did play 20 minutes tonight, so probably it was just one of those nights where the ice feels different and the puck feel isn’t quite there. It happens.

Speaking of ice time, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that Arttu Hyry only had seven total shifts tonight, including just two in the second and one in the third period. But I think the reason for that may have been twofold: First, because it was a tight game and the Stars shortened the benches a bit, but two, because Hyry was staying out way too long (or getting caught out). Hyry had the longest average shift-length of any Dallas Stars player tonight, with four of his seven shifts coming in at over a minute long. That’s not the assignment for fourth-line forwards, and I think that 1:37 shift in the second period might have sealed his fate tonight:

We’ll see if the lineup changes tomorrow afternoon in Ottawa.

The third period got cagier and quieter as it wore on, with both teams clearly understanding the assignment: get a point against a cross-conference opponent, then send your top guys out to battle for the overtime point. That didn’t mean there weren’t chances, but it was plain to see that both teams were closing ranks, and most chances were one-and-done shots through whatever traffic they could muster. And by “most,” I mean “there were like thirty whistles in the final five minutes.”

Anyway, the teams made it to overtime, and the game started back up again. That made things much more fun, which is the idea.

Cole Caufield hit the post on Oettinger’s far side right before Thomas Harley forced a great glove save out of Montembeault at the other end. Duchene put a perfect saucer pass from Johnston wide of an empty net, and great defensive plays at both ends sabotaged just-abouts, before Sam Montembeault made a glove save that Patrick Roy would have been proud of, except Montenbeault actually held onto the puck when he posed with it over his head. Stankoven (whose appearance in overtime rather than Bourque surprised me a tad tonight, though I know they’re trying to get Stankoven chances where they can) had a rush where he nearly bulled his way to the low slot, only to get poke-checked just enough to force him out of the most dangerous area before a fadeaway wrister was taken care of. A shootout was the consequence for the team’s respective impotence.

Thankfully, the Stars have two secret weapons when it comes to shootouts: Jason Robertson and Jake Oettinger. Oettinger is good and technically sound, and that enabled him to make all three saves despite some scrambling required. But getting the job done is all that matters, and Oettinger did his job to perfection. He has been much better in this first half of the season than he was last year, and that’s been important for a Dallas team that hasn’t scored quite as much this year. But that’s also a more sustainable thing, in a lot of ways, as Dallas’s 5-on-5 scoring is still pretty strong this year, tonight notwithstanding. It’s good to see Jake Oettinger looking good, so long as he doesn’t get worn down in the second half. Here’s hoping Connor Hellebuyck plays every minute of the tournament next month.

Robertson is good at a certain shootout move, and it turns out it’s sort of unstoppable, actually. Look at this screenshot from his attempt tonight (which he scored by shooting high glove, into the top corner), then watch the below video.

Yeah, that’s pretty much all there was to it. Robertson has solved shootouts in a Jussi Jokinen-esque way, and I think having three different options is a big reason for it, rather than Jokinen’s two (though he began to mix things up after his torrid streak in his rookie season).

Robertson has been scoring a ton lately after struggling early in the year, but all scorers are streaky. It’s whether or not you can come up with big goals when it matters that defines your legacy, and Robertson has done so in the shootout with aplomb. The playoffs, of course, have been another animal. But I refuse to believe that Robertson can’t find a way to figure it out this spring. Maybe the adversity of this first half will end up fueling a strong stretch that leads to a dominant playoff performance. Dreaming is what the regular season is for, after all.