Stars (9-9-6, 24 points) vs. Lightning (19-6-2, 46 points)
7:30 p.m., American Airlines Center
TV: FOX Sports Southwest
Radio: The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM
DALLAS — Jake Oettinger will get his third straight start for the Stars Tuesday.
That’s a pretty big feather in the cap of the 22-year-old rookie, as he will face defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay at American Airlines Center.
“He certainly has, he’s in tonight,” Stars coach Rick Bowness said when asked if Oettinger had earned another start. “He played very well on the weekend, and he’s been very consistent. It’s all part of his growth and part of his development. As we know, he’s a huge part of this franchise, not only now but in the future, so he’s back in there tonight.”
Oettinger started games on Saturday and Sunday in Columbus, taking a 2-1 shootout win on Sunday and losing a 4-3 overtime game on Saturday. He is 4-1-5 on the season with a 2.10 goals against average and .917 save percentage. Because he had lost the first five games that went past regulation, getting the shootout win was huge.
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“It’s really fun, a really good opportunity to leave a footprint on the game,” Oettinger said of the shootout. “Thankfully, tonight we were on the right end of that. It feels good to get a win on the road.”
Bowness said he likes what he has seen from Oettinger in his rookie season.
“He is a student of the game,” Bowness said. “He takes great pride in his performance, he’s a great teammate, the guys love playing in front of him. What you guys don’t see is in the locker room and around the gym, his positive, up-beat attitude, so those things rub off on his teammates.”
Oettinger said he has taken the consecutive starts in stride and simply wants to do anything he can to help his team win.
“I love it. Any time my name is called, I’m super excited,” said the 2017 first-round pick out of Boston University. “I played back-to-back every weekend in college, so it’s nothing too crazy on my body. I love when my number’s called.”
On the other end of the ice …
The Stars lost to Tampa Bay in six games in the Stanley Cup Final last season, so getting moved into a division with the Lightning this season has been interesting.
Tampa Bay has won the first two meetings, 5-0 (Feb. 27 at Tampa) and 2-0 (March 2 at Dallas), with goalie Andre Vasilevskiy stopping all 48 shots he has faced. In his regular season career against the Stars, Vasilevskiy is 7-0-3 with a 1.87 GAA and .936 save percentage.
“He’s the challenge,” Bowness said. “I know we lost 5-0 in there, but it really wasn’t a 5-0 game. They capitalized on every chance they got. We were very happy with our 5-on-5 play there, we just didn’t score.
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“The game in here (where Dallas had a 28-18 advantage in shots on goal) was probably one of our best games of the year 5-on-5, creating chances off the forecheck and creating chances off the rush. We were very happy with our game, and we lost 2-0 with the empty netter. Vasy was the difference. When you play these guys and he’s in the net, you have to take 2-1 mentality into the game and make sure you don’t give them the opportunities we did in Tampa that caused us to lose the game.”
Dallas had 15 goals in six games against Vasilevskiy in the Stanley Cup Final, so Bowness said they know they can beat him.
“It’s the same ol’ thing, it’s shots, it’s traffic, it’s banging, it’s getting a greasy goal against them,” Bowness said. “He is the best goalie in the league. He’s a great competitor, he’s a great kid, he’s a great teammate. Can we put pucks behind him? Yeah. We did it in the bubble and we’ve got to find a way to do that tonight.”
Hintz to be game-time decision again
With Oettinger in net, it’s worth noting that Anton Khudobin is 3-5-0 in his career against the Lightning with a 3.16 GAA and .886 save percentage.
Roope Hintz (lower body) did not skate in the morning, but is a game-time decision.
Bowness seemed to go back to more regular lines with the morning skate, as Joe Pavelski was centering Alexander Radulov and Jamie Benn. Jason Dickinson was centering Jason Robertson and Denis Gurianov (and you could easily see Hintz stepping in there). Radek Faksa was centering Andrew Cogliano and Blake Comeau, and Rhett Garner was centering Nick Caamano and Joel Kiviranta (and you could easily see Dickinson moving into the center spot there).
By the numbers
9-4-1
Tampa Bay is 9-4-1 when allowing the opponent to score first. Dallas is 1-7-4 when allowing the opponent to score first. Tampa Bay is 10-2-1 when scoring first. Dallas is 8-2-2 when scoring first.
11-4
While the Lightning are only 4-0-2 in one-goal games, they are 11-4 in games decided by three goals or more. Dallas is 3-3-6 in one-goal games and 6-2 in games decided by three goals or more.
Plus-34
Tampa Bay leads the NHL in goal differential at plus-34. They rank first in scoring (3.63), fourth in GAA (2.33), third in penalty kill (85.9 percent) and fourth in power-play success (28.0 percent).
He said it
“I can tell you I’m not wearing a white suit behind the bench tonight.” — Bowness on his team wearing the all-white Reverse Retro uniforms for the first time tonight
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, and listen to his podcast.