Have the Oilers solved Jake Oettinger?
The Edmonton Oilers are up in the series after a dominating performance last game.
Today on Daily Faceoff Live, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton discuss Jake Oettinger versus the Oilers.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Jake Oettinger, I mean, for whatever reason, these last couple years against Edmonton, it is not been pretty, specifically games in Edmonton. When he’s played a playoff game at Rogers plays the last two years, his same percentage crashes to .848. As you look at the six goals the Oilers got in game three, or any of the other goals in this series, have they figured anything out with Oettinger? Is it simply a product of he’s facing so many quality looks, like eventually, some are just gonna go in. I think it’s a mix of both, right?
Carter Hutton: I think there are some times you need saves. I thought early in that game, in the first, the Bouchard goal is one where he needs to save. It’s a hard shot, but it’s on the ice. He’s a big guy at six-six; he needs to make that safe. But then again, you look at McDavid’s goals, you know, those are very good shots. Those are good goals. Hyman scores on, you know, a breakaway and then another one, which is a partial breakaway where he gets it upstairs. I think just the Edmonton Oilers are doing a good job of getting the puck elevated against them, where he’s a big guy, he seals the ice very well, and he’s just got a hump to get over to.
Carter Hutton: This is another guy who has to exercise some demons to get back to where he needs to be. We think of the Dallas Stars and the Conference Finals, where they’ve been in the Stanley Cup Final. That was Anton Khudobin who got them there. So Jake Oettinger has to exercise some demons, we talked about Connor Hellebuyck, you know, having struggled in the earlier rounds. Oettinger is not necessarily struggling, but you have to make big saves at big times and yesterday he didn’t have that for his team.
Tyler Yaremchuk: You see in rounds one and two, like, .911, .929 on the save percentage, like, he’s not really struggling, and I agree with that. He’s not playing poorly, even though you can sit and look at the three games against Edmonton here and be like, “he’s below an eight, not an .890 save percentage in every single one of them”. But when you’re only facing 24 to 27 shots on goal, and again, a bunch of them are odd man rushes, Edmonton on the Power play, your save percentage isn’t gonna look pretty.
Carter Hutton: No, it’s not. And not being said, these are the trickiest games to play in, right? When you’re not in a rhythm and you’re not busy. During my career, I always remember when I would have like 35 plus shots, my record was through the roof, how much better I played, but as you experience, you gain more experience, you play more. sometimes just when you don’t get a lot of shots you have to stay in the moment and be there, and again he’s only 26 years old, like I think the future is very bright for Jake Oettinger, but this is a lot to take on when you’re playing against two of the best players in the world and this is an opportunistic team. So that being said, he needs to make saves at big times, and I don’t think right now he’s getting that. But Dallas also has to do a better job of protecting him.