WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Dallas netminder Jake Oettinger stopped 27 shots to record his first shutout of the season, leading the Stars to a 2-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.
“That’s goaltending in a nutshell,” Oettinger said, four days after surrendering six goals to Calgary. “You feel like you’re at rock bottom, then get a shutout a couple of days later. So, I’m going to enjoy it tonight and then I don’t know what I’ve got ahead of me.”
Forwards Tyler Seguin and Joe Pavelski scored for Dallas.
“It was a good bounceback game and it started with (Oettinger), too,” Pavelski said. “He was our best player tonight, by far. He made a lot of big saves. Both goalies made good saves.”
Seguin put the game away late in the third period. He converted a pass from Mason Marchment, who flipped the puck over fallen defenseman Nate Schmidt and potted the puck into the empty side of the net.
Goalie Connor Hellebuyck stopped 19 of 21 shots for Winnipeg, snapping his four-game winning streak. It was Winnipeg’s second consecutive loss.
“Oettinger made a lot of big saves and they blocked a lot of good shots,” said Jets center Mark Scheifele. “I thought we played pretty solid.
“Oettinger made a lot of big saves tonight, but so did (Hellebuyck). He made a lot of big saves that kept us in it and kept it close. So, both goalies played well, and we just needed to find a way to score.”
The Stars killed off two critical two-men short infractions. The second one came in the third period for 44 seconds while they were protecting a 1-0 lead.
“Yeah, that was the turning point in the game, both ways,” Oettinger said. “We’ve got some guys who take a lot of pride in those situations and you’re not going to see them on NHL Network, but that’s what it takes to win — and we’ve got a lot of guys like that.”
The Stars opened the scoring with a controversial goal about midway through the second period. Pavelski was set up alone in front of the empty side of the net by forward Roope Hintz and scored. The Jets challenged for goalie interference as Pavelski had hit Hellebuyck in the face mask with his stick just before scoring. Pavelski said he was unaware that his stick hit Hellebuyck until he saw the replay.
The Jets lost the challenge and were charged with a delay-of-game penalty.
The Stars scored just after killing a two-man short penalty for 68 seconds.
“They’re four-point games, and you’re on the road and that team’s been playing well,” said Stars coach Peter DeBoer. “Everyone knows what was at stake tonight, and I thought we deserved to win.”
UP NEXT
Stars: Visit Calgary on Thursday.
Jets: Host Edmonton on Thursday.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
