Stars HC gives his justification for pulling Jake Oettinger extremely early in eventual Game 5 loss to Oilers 

Dallas Stars head coach Pete DeBoer explained why he pulled goalie Jake Oettinger early in Game 5 against the Edmonton Oilers. Oettinger was pulled out of the game only after 7:09 minutes on ice in the first period. The Stars were down 2-0 after that as Oettinger gave up two goals on the first two shots he faced.

DeBoer said postgame that the move was to spark the team after falling behind quickly.

"Well, anytime you pull a goalie, there's the reasoning's always to try and spark your group," DeBoer said via B/R pen Ice on X/Twitter. "So that was the number one reason. We had talked endlessly in this series about trying to play with the lead. And obviously we're in a two-nothing hole right away."

Corey Perry scored on the power play, and Mattias Janmark added another on a breakaway. DeBoer added he didn’t blame Oettinger alone for the start, but he pointed to past struggles against Edmonton:

And then, what, I didn’t take that lightly, and I didn’t blame it all on Jake. But, the reality is, if you go back to last year’s playoffs, he’s lost six of seven games to Edmonton. And we gave up two shots on two goals in an elimination game.

"So, it was partly to spark our team and wake them up, and partly, you know, knowing that, status quo had not been working, and that’s a pretty big sample size," he added.

The team needed a change, with Casey DeSmith replacing Jake Oettinger and making 17 saves in relief. But, the Oilers scored a third goal just under a minute after Oettinger was pulled. Jeff Skinner made it 3-0 after a scramble in front.

Stars tried to make a comeback but their effort fell short against Oilers

In their attempt to make a comeback, Stars forward Jason Robertson cut the lead to 3-1 later in the first. Roope Hintz then made it 3-2 on a power play in the second. But, Connor McDavid scored on a breakaway shortly after to make it 4-2.

Robertson added his second goal to open the third and bring it to 4-3. Evander Kane then made it 5-3 by banking a shot off Esa Lindell’s skate. And then, Kasperi Kapanen scored an empty-net goal to seal the 6-3 win.

The Oilers won the series and moved on to the Stanley Cup Final, where they will face the Florida Panthers in a rematch of last year’s final.

Game 1 will be in Edmonton at Rogers Place on Wednesday.