Winnipeg managed four shots in the third period Thursday night. Jake Oettinger stopped all four, and that modest workload became one of the most important contributions in the Dallas Stars’ 3-2 overtime comeback.
The number does not leap off a scoresheet beside a 17-save performance. Its value was situational. Dallas entered the final period trailing by one after allowing two goals 1 minute, 48 seconds apart in the second. Oettinger and the Stars did not erase that ugly stretch, but they prevented it from becoming a larger problem.
That gave Dallas something precious in a comeback: room. A two-goal deficit would have changed the late arithmetic, forcing the Stars to score twice while exposing themselves to an empty-net goal. At 2-1, the risk remained substantial, but it was still manageable. The third period stayed a one-goal chase rather than turning into damage control.
The middle-period swing had begun with Dallas ahead. Wyatt Johnston scored at 1:17, then Gabriel Vilardi tied the game at 10:50 and Kyle Connor put Winnipeg in front at 12:38. Oettinger faced eight Jets shots in the period and allowed both goals. The Stars had to recover from that sequence without pretending it had been a minor interruption.
They recovered first by limiting Winnipeg’s opportunities. The Jets finished with 19 shots, and four came in the third period, followed by one more in overtime. Dallas generated 11 shots in the third, giving itself repeated chances to work toward the tying goal while Oettinger kept the deficit from expanding.
Shot totals do not automatically explain who deserved a comeback, but the period’s imbalance did explain why Dallas remained capable of mounting one.
The eventual equalizer required a separate decision. With the Dallas net empty, six Stars skaters were on the ice when Roope Hintz scored at 18:00, assisted by Mikko Rantanen and Johnston. Dallas finished 0 for 2 on formal power plays, so the tying goal was a six-on-five conversion rather than a power-play success.
The extra attacker supplied the numerical advantage; Oettinger’s quiet period helped make using that advantage survivable.
The score’s size matters as much as the time left when a coach considers removing the goalie. Dallas needed one finish to force overtime. A larger deficit would have demanded another, against a goalie already making the Stars work for each one.
Keeping Winnipeg at two goals preserved a much more useful set of possibilities than simply allowing Dallas to claim it had outshot the opponent.
Winnipeg’s goaltender, Skinner, made 35 saves, so Dallas’ third-period volume did not guarantee an equalizer. The Stars still had to solve a busy opposing goalie, and the one-goal deficit gave them time to continue applying pressure instead of requiring a frantic two-goal chase. Oettinger’s role was different but connected. He supplied the clean stretch that allowed Dallas to keep trying.
