Jake Oettinger earned a shutout in just his second playoff start for the Dallas Stars in a 2-0 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday to even their playoff series at 1-1.
Oettinger, 23, of Lakeville, Minnesota, stopped all 29 shots he faced in a sea of red at the sold-out Saddledome.
“The only thing that matters is the victories. They have a great goalkeeper at the other end and we know he is going to be tight, so the margin for error for me is very small,” said Oettinger.
Joe Pavelski scored and Michael Raffl added an empty net goal for the Stars, who host the Flames in Saturday’s Game 3 and Monday’s Game 4 at the American Airlines Center in the best-of-conference quarterfinals. seven.
“Our goal was to go to Dallas and win two games anyway, so it doesn’t really change our thinking,” Flames forward Tyler Toffoli said.
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Calgary opened the series with a 1-0 win on Tuesday and the series continued to be a defensive battle in Game 2. Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom stopped 21 of 22 shots in Thursday’s loss.
Calgary (50-21-11) finished first in the Pacific Division, while Dallas (46-30-6) earned the top wild card spot in the Western Conference.
The Flames outshot the Stars 12-7 in the third quarter, but Dallas didn’t allow any chances from close range.
With Markstrom brought out for an extra attacker, Raffl scored into an empty net with 69 seconds remaining in the game.
“We had a lot of outside (shots), I think from our best guys,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “They have to be closer to the goalkeeper.”
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Outplayed in the first period, Calgary generated more offense and an 11-7 shooting advantage in the second. The Flames were denied by Oettinger, however, and failed to get their sticks on the few rebounds the Dallas goalie allowed.
“They are a good defensive team. I thought we had a lot of scoring opportunities tonight,” Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau said. “Their goalkeeper played well. A pair of two-on-ones, breakaways, thought we did a good job in their own zone, but managed to score, press and put the puck in the net (starting) with myself.”
In an attempt to generate more offense, Stars head coach Rick Bowness continued to play forwards Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin on separate lines as he did in the second and third periods of Game 1.
“There’s not a lot of room out there,” Bowness said. “There is not much room for them or for us. You have to work for everything you get.”
Dallas mustered more hits (25) in the first 40 minutes than in Game 1 (20) for a total of 36. The Flames had 21 giveaways to the Stars’ eight.
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The visitors outshot the Flames 9-6 in the opening period and strengthened their front to stop Calgary coming out of their own zone.
After failing to register a shot at the net in Game 1, Pavelski scored the first goal of the series for the Stars at 7:47 into the first period on a fumble in the Flames’ backcourt.
Defenseman Noah Hanifin took the puck off the boards and placed it on Jason Robertson’s post inside the blue line. Pavelski deflected Robertson’s shot over Markstrom’s glove.
A Gaudreau breakaway goal 43 seconds after the puck dropped was disallowed for offside.
Calgary winger Matthew Tkachuk and Stars defenseman John Klingberg renewed hostilities from the first game in which Tkachuk hit Klingberg into the boards behind Calgary’s net late in the first period.
Tkachuk checked on Klingberg, who was awarded a hard penalty, after Gaudreau’s goal was disallowed to send both men into the box.
The Stars were scoreless on a couple of power-play occasions and went 0-for-7 in the first two games of the series. The Flames went 0-for-3 Thursday and scored once in eight power-play opportunities in the first two games.
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