yardbarker
DALLAS — Jake Oettinger stopped all 22 shots he faced, backstopping the Dallas Stars to a 2-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night at American Airlines Center. The shutout was the 20th of Oettinger's career and his NHL-leading fourth this season, making him the fifth goaltender in Stars/North Stars history to reach the 20-shutout milestone. He improved his record to 10-4-1.
The performance came just 48 hours after Oettinger was pulled one minute into the third period against the Winnipeg Jets, having surrendered six goals on 27 shots in an 8-3 loss. It was his most goals allowed this season and marked the first time Dallas had given up eight goals in a game since 2016. Oettinger had allowed 14 goals over his previous three starts.
Against Buffalo, the Stars' defense limited the Sabres to 22 shots, five fewer than Oettinger faced in just 41 minutes against Winnipeg. Buffalo managed only 11 shots through two periods. "It felt great. Guys played great in front of me, and everyone just did their job," Oettinger said. "Kind of was impressive how well we defended after last game. Just flushed it, and guys played great."
Jamie Benn opened the scoring with the 1,000th point of his career at 16:23 of the second period. Wyatt Johnston added a power-play goal with 42 seconds remaining, and Alex Lyon made 28 saves for Buffalo.
Buffalo's power-play opportunities came in bunches, including a 4-on-3 advantage for 1:17 in the third period after penalties to Jason Robertson, Thomas Harley, Rasmus Dahlin, and Sam Steel. But Dallas killed all five Sabres power plays (three in the first period, two in the third), and Oettinger made 11 saves in the final frame, including a right-leg stop on Jack Quinn's breakaway and another denial of Quinn seconds later.
"Just one of those. The guys played so well in front of me the first two periods, and then I knew I was gonna have to put my footprint on the game," Oettinger explained. "I wanted to be a difference maker and felt like I had the opportunity to do that tonight and was happy to make a couple good saves. But there was so many big plays guys made in front of me, breaking up passes, blocking shots, stuff like that. It was a full defensive effort."
Stars coach Glen Gulutzan noted the low shot volume through two periods but praised the quality saves when it mattered. "Low-volume work through two periods, but then some quality, quality saves," Gulutzan said. "So for me, that's the true sign. It's like I tell power play, PK, and goaltending, when are you getting these saves? And we got them when we needed them."
Tyler Seguin emphasized how much the bench fed off Oettinger's performance. "Ton. I mean, he was phenomenal tonight. I mean, he's always pretty much phenomenal," Seguin said. "We were all off that last game, so we wanted to play better for him tonight too. But he was the top player."
Benn added: "Huge. Especially in the third there. Just rock solid. To move on quick and get back in there and shut the door, it was nice to see."
Buffalo has now been shut out by Oettinger in both meetings this season, including a 4-0 Dallas win in Buffalo on Oct. 8. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff told reporters his team had four or five point-blank chances and needed to bury them, per NHL.com.
The Stars were without Miro Heiskanen (upper-body injury, fourth straight game), Lian Bichsel, and Kyle Capobianco. Thomas Harley logged 28:01 and Esa Lindell 27:11, while Kyle Burroughs, recalled from the AHL's Texas Stars, played 8:50 in his season debut alongside Trey Taylor.
"It's a character win, really. To see the shutout and coming off what we did, [it] shows character," Gulutzan said. "Guys asked me about that a couple days ago. I mean, it just shows it. So this isn't a linear progression the whole way this season. You're gonna get ups and downs, but you can see your character comes through."
Earlier this season, Oettinger went a career-best 188:52 without allowing a goal, a run that included the Oct. 8 shutout in Buffalo. It ended in an October loss at Pittsburgh, which Gulutzan attributed to the offense. Dallas has now kept the Sabres off the scoreboard for 153:51 dating to April 15; only the Washington Capitals have a longer active shutout streak against a single opponent.
The Stars play the second half of a back-to-back Sunday against the Florida Panthers at American Airlines Center at 7 p.m. CT. "We gotta move on tomorrow, but I thought it was a good game tonight," Gulutzan said.
Originally reported by yardbarker.