Oettinger 'really hungry to get going again'

DALLAS - Just over four months have passed since goaltender Jake Oettinger surrendered six goals on 29 shots in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights.

Fortunately, that performance is officially ancient history with a brand new season on the horizon later this week.

A resilient Oettinger is primed to embark on a journey that he hopes will have a far more memorable ending for the Stars this time around.

“I feel like I’m proud of the work I put in this summer. I feel very rested and fresh and really hungry to get going again,” said Oettinger, ahead of the exhibition matchup versus the Avalanche on Oct. 3 at American Airlines Center. “I feel like last year I learned a lot about just kind of the toll that the season takes on you and the little stuff that you need to do in order to feel healthy and fresh, especially come playoff time or down the stretch. I’m just going to focus on the little details that all the guys do for preparation and recovery to keep my body in a good spot for the whole season.”

Head coach Pete DeBoer has stressed the importance of load management in Oettinger’s case during the regular season to ensure that he has plenty of juice left for a lengthy playoff voyage.

The 24-year-old Lakeville, MN native started 61 games in 2022-23, so perhaps veteran Scott Wedgewood will be called upon a little more often to give his counterpart an extra night off here and there.

The Boston University product just wants to put lessons learned into practice and come up big when his teammates need him most.

“I think [the playoff run] was a huge learning experience. Playoffs is kind of like, you let in six goals, like it doesn’t matter, you just turn it off and go right back the next night,” explained Oettinger. “I had some great games and I had some games where I let in a lot of goals, but I feel like I was proud of the run that I put together. Now I know, and we all know in here, that’s the expectation - to get to that point in the season and to be one of those final teams standing.”

Like Oettinger said, mental fortitude will be primordial to achieve that objective.

He was asked about overcoming the occasional subpar outing.

“It’s kind of like a quarterback in football. You play great and you’re the best quarterback in the world, and you play bad and you should get traded. That’s kind of how it goes. It’s just the position I signed up for,” mentioned Oettinger. “It’s fun. It’s nice to be able to have a huge impact on the game and on this team, and I just feel lucky I can be one of the goalies here. There’s good times and there’s bad, but a lot more good than bad.”

And with the unwavering support of his family and friends, the Stars’ No. 29 is ready for the inevitable grind of another campaign.

“In today’s day and age with social media and stuff like that, you can beat yourself up if you let yourself go down that road. The most important thing that I think I just lean on is whether I have a shutout or I let in five goals, the people that mean the most to me treat me the same way. That’s the only thing I care about,” stated Oettinger. “I know, and they know, how hard I work and how much I put my heart and soul into this, so at the end of the day you do everything you can and you leave it on the line and how ever it shakes out, you’ve got to live with it.”