Stars out due to lack of offense, overreliance on Oettinger

The Dallas Stars were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Calgary Flames, losing 3-2 in overtime in Game 7 of the Western Conference First Round on Sunday.

Dallas (46-30-6) was the first wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference. The Stars made the playoffs after not qualifying last season. They advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020, losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.

The Skinny

Potential unrestricted free agents: Blake Comeau, F; Braden Holtby, G; John Klingberg, D; Vladislav Namestnikov, F; Alexander Radulov, F; Michael Raffl, F; Andrej Sekera, D; Scott Wedgewood, G

Potential restricted free agents: Denis Gurianov, F; Fredrik Karlstrom, F; Jake Oettinger, G; Jason Robertson, F; Marian Studenic, F; Riley Tufte, F

Potential 2022 Draft picks: 7

Here are five reasons the Stars were eliminated:

1. Relying too much on Oettinger

Oettinger had 36:40 of experience in the Stanley Cup Playoffs entering this series, and that was in clean-up duty for the Stars during the 2020 playoffs. Given the reins in this series, Oettinger was tremendous, going 3-4 with a 1.81 goals-against average, .954 save percentage and one shutout in seven games.

But the onus was on him too often. Oettinger faced 41 shots in Game 3. He faced 53 in Game 4 and a Stars/Minnesota North Stars-record 67 shots in Game 7. That’s too much, regardless of the experience a goaltender has.

General manager Jim Nill told NHL.com prior to Game 3 that Oettinger “probably saved our season.” Oettinger just about pulled the Stars through to the second round too. He just didn’t have enough help.

2. Scoring struggles

There are a variety of issues with the Stars’ lack of offensive production, so we’ll start with the big picture here.

They averaged 2.84 goals per game in the regular season, the fewest of any team that qualified for the playoffs. That carried into the postseason, where they averaged 2.00 goals per game and 27.9 shots on goal, each the fewest among the 16 teams.

3. Power play

Or lack thereof, to be specific. The Stars scored two power-play goals in the series, by forward Joe Pavelski in Game 3 and forward Tyler Seguin in Game 4. They finished 2-for-24 (8.3 percent), with 24 shots on goal.

Worse for the Stars was that even when the power play wasn’t scoring, it rarely was generating enough zone time, shots or momentum to help them.

Considering how offense comes at a premium for the Stars, they needed their power play to create more, and it didn’t.

4. Tough third periods

This is something that became an issue as the series wore on. The Stars were losing 1-0 entering the third period of Game 4 when the Flames started getting back to their aggressive, fast-paced game and the Stars couldn’t stop it. Calgary scored two goals within the first 11:53 of the third, including a successful penalty shot by forward Johnny Gaudreau. Dallas lost 4-1 and went back to Calgary tied 2-2 in the series.

Almost the same thing happened in Game 5, except the Stars went into the third period with a 1-0 lead. After stifling Calgary for two periods Dallas couldn’t do it in the third. The Flames scored twice in the first 10:38 to take the lead, and Trevor Lewis’ empty-net goal gave the Flames a 3-1 win.

5. Veteran forwards were too quiet

Asked prior to Game 6 what the Stars needed from forwards Seguin and Jamie Benn, coach Rick Bowness laughed and said, “goals would help.”

Can’t get more spot-on than that. Benn, who scored 46 points (18 goals, 28 assists) in 82 regular-season games, scored two points (one goal, one assist) in seven playoff games; his goal came 40 seconds into Game 7. Seguin, who scored 49 points (24 goals, 25 assists) in 81 regular-season games, scored four points (two goals, two assists) in seven games.

Prior to Game 6 Bowness was asked if Seguin, who missed all but three games last season after having right hip arthroscopy and a labral repair Nov. 2, 2020, was healthy. Bowness said Seguin was. Regardless, it was a tough series for two players who used to be the Stars’ top producers.