After an unpleasant finish to the postseason final 12 months, Jake Oettinger struggled out of the gate to start out the 2026 playoffs on Saturday.
The Dallas Stars netminder allowed 5 targets on 28 pictures in a 6-1 blowout loss to the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of their first-round collection. Oettinger’s struggles within the 2025 playoffs have been well-documented with then-head coach Peter DeBoer pulling the netminder early of their elimination loss the to Edmonton Oilers in Game 5 the Western Conference Final.
“Once I leave the rink, I never think about it again,” Oettinger mentioned of his response to dropping Game 1 towards the Wild. “Even if we had won Game 1, it would’ve been the same process.”
Jake Oettinger on his response after Game 1: “Once I leave the rink, I never think about it again. Even if we had won Game 1, it would’ve been the same process.”
— Lia Assimakopoulos (@Lassimak) April 20, 2026
Oettinger posted a 35-12-6 document within the common season with a .899 save share and a 2.59 goals-against common. He completed the playoffs final 12 months with a 9-8 document with a .905 save share, struggling towards the Oilers, permitting 14 targets within the first 4 video games of the collection. He was pulled simply over seven minutes into Game 5 after permitting two targets on two pictures within the eventual 6-3 loss.
DeBoer was fired per week after the playoff elimination, with Stars normal supervisor Jim Nill admitting “the events that took place (with Oettinger), that’s a component of it.”
Gulutzan mentioned after Game 1 he didn’t contemplate pulling Oettinger as he didn’t blame on the targets on him. He did, nonetheless, go away the door open on Sunday to contemplating a goalie change in some unspecified time in the future to Casey DeSmith.
“It would have to be something,” Gulutzan mentioned of creating a change. “We look at game to game, so I’m not going to fish ahead to see what happens, but everything is on the table come playoff time it doesn’t matter if it’s personnel or what it is. You’re just trying to win a game. We don’t want to mix and match too much. We lost Game 1. We’ve got to bounce back.
“Like I keep saying, there weren’t many guys at the top of their game yesterday. I fully expect them to be better tomorrow.”
The Stars, who’ve reached the Western remaining in every of the previous three years, completed second in Central Division of their first season below Gulutzan, organising their robust matchup with the Wild. Dallas completed third total within the NHL standings, whereas the Wild completed seventh within the league and third within the Western Conference.
