“We were not ready,” said Mikko Rantanen after the Edmonton Oilers stunned them in the Western Conference Final. It was painful for the fans, considering just how great the Stars looked before the Oilers series. Their ‘new’ Finnish Mafia was at full strength, with Mikko Rantanen riding high on two back-to-back hat tricks against the Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets. Yet, in a do-or-die game, Peter DeBoer’s team collapsed within the opening 10 minutes.
The usual suspect, Connor McDavid, led the charge, passing the puck to Corey Perry, who scored the first goal at 2:31. Mattias Janmark doubled the lead minutes later at 7:09. Then came the controversial decision that left Stars fans perplexed. Coach DeBoer pulled their starting goalie, Jake Oettinger, during the first-period timeout. That decision would immediately prove disastrous for the stars.
Peter DeBoer pulled Oettinger and replaced him with Casey DeSmith, who spent barely a minute on the ice before the Edmonton Oilers scored goal No. 3. The Oilers celebrated because it marked Jeff Skinner’s first career playoff goal. The Dallas coach tried to explain why he pulled the shocking move barely 10 minutes into the game, but that only fueled the frustration.
“Well, anytime you pull a goalie, you know? The reasoning’s always to try and spark your group. So that was the number one reason,” said the 56-year-old. The coach explained that he had talked extensively about taking the lead against the Oilers in Game 5 if they wanted to have a chance. “And obviously, we’re in a two-nothing hole right away,” added the coach.
Pete DeBoer explains his reasoning for pulling Jake Oettinger and what his message was during his first period timeout pic.twitter.com/E33uNm4cZ6
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Surprisingly, Peter DeBoer said he didn’t blame the goalie despite pulling him. “You know what? I didn’t take that lightly. And I didn’t blame it all on Jake,” added DeBoer. Yet, the 56-year-old also added how Oettinger’s has “lost six to seven games to Edmonton,” counting last year’s playoff losses. “It was partly to spark our team and wake them up. And partly knowing that the status quo had not been working,” explained the head coach. But did that calm the fans down? No. It did the opposite.
Stars fans picked apart Peter DeBoer’s reasoning
To say the fans didn’t buy Peter DeBoer’s explanation would be an understatement. “Such a bull*** answer on Otter. If that was the case, why tf didn’t they just play Smith at the beginning of the series? Why wait now?” the hockey fan countered DeBoer. “He f***d up pulling him early,” the fan then added, implying it was a mistake. And Casey DeSmith’s performance didn’t prove otherwise.
While the goalie did seem to recover after allowing a goal barely a minute into his time in front of the net, he let in two more shots. Goal No. 6 was an empty-netter with 10.8 seconds left in the third period. Meanwhile, another NHL fan argued that pulling Oettinger so early was a surprising decision, despite the stats not favoring the 26-year-old.
“Something about pulling ur starting goalie w/ an 8-year contract 7 minutes into a WCF game still doesn’t sit right, no matter the stats,” commented the fans. While Oettinger has continued to struggle since the last season against the Oilers, fans hoped Peter DeBoer would have more faith in his starting goalie. Especially because DeSmith didn’t have a glowing record either.
His inactivity may have been the reason Jeff Skinner could stun the goalie and score the third goal. That’s because DeSmith only played in the third period in Game 4 against the Colorado Avalanche, where he stopped 13 out of 14 shots on target. What’s worse? The Stars lost that game 4-0. So it’s no wonder some fans found it hard to defend Peter DeBoer’s decision.
“You know, I’ve defended DeBoer to my Knights friend in Vegas. But I’m havin’ a real hard time here. He’s basically laying this nonsense on Jake when he’s getting shot on, like it’s open season and nothing’s happening on the other side of the rink. This is just dirty,” explained the fan. Despite the Oilers getting the better of Jake Oettinger, the goalie maintained over .900 SV% in his first 17 games this postseason.
The Dallas Stars goaltender went 9-8 in those 17 matches, maintaining a respectable 2.72 goals-against average. In fact, Peter DeBoer’s shocking move even surprised Oilers fans. “As an Oilers fan watching this, I was stunned and thinking. Wtf are you doing?? Even said it out loud, hahaha…” confessed an Edmonton Oilers fan. Meanwhile, some fans refused to believe that the coach didn’t blame the NHL netminder for the first two goals.
“He clearly blames Otter for the series loss. Two weeks ago, Otter was making his case for starter on the ’26 Olympic team, and today his coach completely skewers him. Oilers are a wrecking ball, and there have been casualties. DeBoer’s p***ed,” countered another fan. But the explanation of not blaming Jake Oettinger remained consistent, as the players regretted not helping out Oettinger.
“We were not helping Jake at all on the first two goals. That’s on us and not on Jake,” Mikko Rantanen said post-game, and he wasn’t the only one. Forward Jason Robertson echoed a similar sentiment. “It’s unacceptable for us to hang him out like that. I mean, all playoffs he’s been our guy, all season. It’s just unacceptable from us,” confessed the Stars player. Unfortunately, it’s too late for Peter DeBoer and Co. to rectify their mistake. Now the question is: Will the 56-year-old’s decision, coupled with the fan outrage, have far-reaching effects? Tell us what you think in the comments.
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