The Dallas Stars defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 on Saturday in the first matchup between the two teams since the 2024 Western Conference Finals.
The Stars have gotten off to a hot start in the 2024 season with an overall record of 5-1, but this victory likely meant more after the Oilers knocked off Dallas in six games during the most recent postseason.
Dallas struggled to score for a large portion of the game, failing to put up a goal until the final minute of the second period. The Stars entered the final 20 minutes of action with just a 1-0 lead over the Oilers.
However, the team’s offense began to get in a rhythm, as they managed to score three goals in the final period. Center Matt Duchene finished the game with two goals, and center Roope Hintz ended with three total points.
Dallas had high praise for goalie Jake Oettinger following the game after he prevented the Oilers from scoring a single goal through the first two periods, keeping the Stars alive as the team found its footing on offense.
Although Oettinger allowed a goal in the final minutes of the game when the Stars were leading 3-0, the fifth-year goalie collected 30 total saves and prevented 96.8% of shots sent his way from reaching the back of the net.
“Jake…I mean, it should have been 4-0 after the first period if it weren’t for him. If you look at the 60 minutes, they probably shouldn’t have won the game. But I thought, you know, for the last 25 minutes we were the better team,” said center Matt Duchene, per NHL.com.
This performance comes just a few days after the organization opted to sign Oettinger to an eight-year contract extension worth $66 million, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. This extension makes him one of the highest-paid goalies in the entire league.
While the Stars are glad they were able to take down Edmonton in the first rematch since the two met in the playoffs, Duchene said the team has to remain focused on the overall goal and keep pushing themselves to improve all season.
“I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a little bit of a motivator, but at the same time, all things are even until playoffs,” he explained, per NHL.com.
“Obviously, you can get a little bit of a mental edge, but I mean we were pretty good against them last year and they beat us in the playoffs. So, it doesn’t really matter during the regular season. It’s about winning that race to the playoffs, and then in the playoffs, if you see each other, you’ll see what happens.”
