In Dallas, Jake Oettinger made 27 saves and the Stars shutout the Washington Capitals, 2-0, on Thursday night.
“I think I can be one of the best goalies in this league, and it’s just now proving it every night,” Oettinger said. “The team hasn’t asked me to save the world or anything back there. Just do your job and make a few big saves every night.
“It takes a full team effort [to get a shutout]. Guys did a ton of stuff for me tonight, blocking shots and our [penalty kill] has been unreal this whole season. I owe a lot of guys thanks for tonight.”
Jason Robertson scored in the first period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead.
“Everyone is kind of feeling it,” Robertson said. “All four lines really got that mojo. We feed off all that energy.”
The Stars’ defense gave the Caps very little room to skate.
“There just wasn’t a lot of opportunity out there,” Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. “You’re firing pucks in there and you’re looking for redirects and tips and rebounds, and it doesn’t drop for you tonight.”
Washington was scoreless in three power play chances.
“Their goalie obviously played really well,” Washington forward Anthony Mantha said. “We’re still believers that if you can’t see the puck, you’re not going to save it. We’ve got to keep working on the relationship of guys getting to the net, taking the goalie’s eyes away, but at the same time [you] have to keep getting pucks to the net.”
Joel Kiviranta scored shorthanded midway through the third period for the 2-0 final.
“I think we knew that we had a starting goalie, but until you come out and do it every night, you always wonder if it’s real,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “But it’s real. He’s the real deal. It’s a such a luxury to have a guy like that because he makes hard saves look easy.”
Darcy Kuemper made 25 saves in the Caps loss.
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