Oettinger returns from All-Star Game refreshed and ready for playoff push

Jake Oettinger’s first All-Star Game was pretty much perfect.

The Stars goalie is hoping it can lead into something even bigger in the homestretch of the regular season.

Oettinger stopped 8 of 10 shots in the first half of the semifinal as Team Matthews was able to win a 6-5 game in a shootout to advance to the Final. He then held Team McDavid to just one goal on nine shots in the second half of the championship game to help pave the way for a 7-4 victory. That put Oettinger on the winning team and gave him some of the best numbers among the eight All-Star goalies who participated in the weekend festivities in Toronto.

Back at practice in Frisco on Sunday, Oettinger said he would like to carry that momentum back onto the ice when the Stars resume regular season play at Buffalo.

“That’s what I’m hoping,” he said. “I feel really good about myself and good about my game. We had a nice win streak going into the break, and we’ll just try to keep that going. I plan on having a great second half.”

Oettinger’s first half had some rough spots. He was out for a month with a groin injury and while he posted a 16-9-2 record, his GAA is 3.04 and his save percentage is .900. Those numbers are off from the career averages of 2.42 and .916 entering the season. Oettinger had ankle surgery in the offseason and then complicated that with the groin injury, but he and the coaching staff believe they have a great plan to make sure he’s fresh and ready in the second half. With backup Scott Wedgewood going 13-4-4 in the first half, there should be every opportunity to get Oettinger up and running in an efficient way.

“I thought he was great,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “I think for everybody, including Jake, this is a break we want to come out of and find another level, and that’s the challenge for the entire room.”

Dallas has back-to-back games at Buffalo and at Toronto to start the return to play. They will play nine of 13 games in February away from home, and the fact they just came off a nine-day break means the schedule will be more condensed. That should mean some good splits for Oettinger, who said he enjoyed the challenge of handling both the physical and emotional toils of 3-on-3 hockey at the All-Star weekend.

“I feel good,” he said.

A big part of the experience was getting to share it with his family, including his younger brother Thomas, who was able to hang out with the biggest names in the NHL and appreciate his brother’s place in the game.

“It was so cool,” Jake said. “It was such a good group of guys. I’m just happy to have gotten that experience and hang out with those guys and have my family there, that was the best part of the whole thing.”

When asked what the best part of the experience was, Jake said being with Thomas.

“Just having my little brother getting to meet all of those guys and the way those guys treated him, it was so cool,” Jake said. “It’s a good lesson for me if little kids are around, you know how much that means to them. If guys like Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid can take time out of their day to talk to my little brother, then everyone can do it.”

The fact that Oettinger played so well was also a great lesson. He faced the best shooters in the NHL and stood shoulder to shoulder with the best goalies.

“Just being in the company of that many guys – especially the goalie – it just pushes me to want to be even better and be in that company year after year,” Oettinger said. “There are so many good goalies that were there, so I was happy to get to watch them and get to know them a little bit.”

And that could help when he has to start facing a few in games that count again.

“The biggest fear when you go to one of those things is injury, one, especially considering what Jake has gone through, so you’re crossing your fingers there that he doesn’t pull something; and two, that he doesn’t get lit up and walk out of there with absolutely no confidence,” DeBoer said. “Neither of those things happened, so good news.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.