The time between a sweet two-game sweep of the New York hockey clubs and another shutout from stud goaltender Jake Oettinger on Thursday night was less than a second.
At 0.9 in the final frame in Madison Square Garden, New York Rangers’ K’Andre Miller slapped a last-ditch shot at Oettinger, whose vision was obscured by a mess of players in front of his net. The puck crossed the goal line, tying the game (1–1).
Seemingly shellshocked, the Stars squad hit the ice in overtime and lost less than 90 seconds into extended play when Adam Fox flipped a shot over Oettinger’s right shoulder.
Miro Heiskanen lost his stick trying to help his goalie defend on the play but ended up blocking Oettinger’s view of the Rangers’ game-winner.
Mason Marchment and Denis Gurianov each recorded assists on Tyler Seguin’s first-period goal.
WHAT TO KNOW
Tyler Seguin scored the lone goal against New York in the first period on a Dallas powerplay. His goal gave the team a 1–0 lead, which they held until the final second of the loss.
New York goalie Igor Shesterkin won his 20th game in 32 tries this season. Shesterkin won the Vezina Trophy for best goalie in the NHL in 2021–22 and made the all-star team last season. On Thursday against Dallas, he stopped 25 of 26 shots.
Oettinger (19–6–4) defended 29 of 31 shots in the loss. His 8–3–2 record on the road is still among the best in the league.
The Stars still picked up a point in the overtime loss and earned three in the two games in Long Island and Manhattan.
BY THE NUMBERS
Despite being the second-best goalie on the ice Thursday night, Jake Oettinger is 6–1–1 in his last eight games combined.
The record 25–11–7 is good for first place in the Central with 57 points, two points better than the Jets (27–14–4 for 55 points).
The Rangers move to 24–12–3, 55 points, and third place in the Metro (Carolina, 26–9–7, 59 points).
Dallas was 1-for-1 on the power play and killed all the Rangers’ one-man advantages by going 4-for-4.
WHAT THEY SAID
“It just sucks,” Jake Oettinger said after the loss. “You know when you’re that close, and your guys play right in front of you, and a lot of guys sacrifice themselves. And, you know, s**t happens.”
“Pretty quiet,” Stars Captain Jamie Benn said of the Dallas postgame locker room. “That’s hockey.”
“Our execution, or attention to detail, was where it needs to be playing a good team on the road,” Dallas head coach Peter DeBoer said. “The other night against the Islanders, I didn’t think it was for 60 minutes.”
NEXT UP
Dallas returns home to host Calgary in a Saturday tilt. The puck drops at the American Airlines Center at 1 p.m. CT.
The Flames are 20–14–9 in the Pacific, good for fourth place. (Las Vegas, first in the Pacific, has a record of 28–13–2 for 58 points, one better than Dallas in the Western Conference.)
