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Oettinger’s stellar performance leads Dallas Stars to opening night victory

By Brian Sweet

Oct 12, 2023; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) and center Matt Duchene (95) and center Joe Pavelski (16) celebrate after the Stars defeat the St. Louis Blues in the overtime shootout period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 12, 2023; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) and center Matt Duchene (95) and center Joe Pavelski (16) celebrate after the Stars defeat the St. Louis Blues in the overtime shootout period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dallas Stars Head Coach Pete DeBoer and the guys made the opening night crowd sweat one out. The Stars went to overtime in the first game of the season and beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 in a shootout. This was the type of hockey game I don’t think Stars’ fans were expecting based on Jordan Binnington’s performance last season. It came down to which goaltender blinked in a best-of-three-round shootout. Let’s go over the three takeaways from tonight’s game against the Blues.

Dallas Stars vs. St. Louis Blues Recap: 3. Jake Oettinger was outstanding

Jake Oettinger played one heck of a hockey game tonight keeping the Stars in the game the entire time. With all the shot attempts in the second period, I thought that the Blues were going to get at least one of them. With the five days in between games, Oettinger will more than likely start against the Vegas Golden Knights next week. Let’s see if he can continue his win streak to start the season.

Dallas Stars vs. St. Louis Blues Recap: 2. Penalty kill was fantastic

The Stars’ penalty kill was fantastic tonight. I was worried when the Stars committed back-to-back penalties in the first period but those were both perfect penalty kills. They still have some stuff to work on but I can’t complain about how they shut down the Blues on the power play in the first period. They are definitely going to be perfect on the penalty kill again in five days when they take on the Knights next week. That will definitely be a test to see if the Stars’ penalty kill is for real this year.

Dallas Stars vs. St. Louis Blues Recap: 1. Inconsistency

I hope the Stars really focus and fix their mistakes from tonight during practice. I know this might sound like an overreaction since it’s the first game of the season but it’s concerning. The offense couldn’t really get anything going tonight without Roope Hintz in the lineup with an upper-body injury.

They have to produce offense if a player is out of the lineup injured. On defense, the Stars need to work on not blocking Oettinger’s view of the puck. That led to the Blues’ first goal of the game seconds after the Stars got on the board first. Inconsistent hockey will not get them back to the Western Conference Finals this season. The Western Conference is going to be a tough road again this season and you win the conference with Inconsistent hockey.

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