Otter Goes Back-to-Back: Oettinger's Second Straight Shutout and Rantanen's Four Points Sink Buffalo 4-0

Victory Green, two games, two shutouts, and the power play finally showed up.

Jake Oettinger made 26 saves Thursday night in Buffalo, and Dallas beat the Sabres 4-0 at KeyBank Center, per NHL.com. That comes right after his 13-save shutout of San Jose on Monday. It's the second time in his career Oettinger has posted back-to-back shutouts, and he's now the third goalie in Stars history to do it more than once, joining Ed Belfour and Cesare Maniago. His shutout streak is at 146:55, the second-longest of his career behind a 154:20 run in 2024.

Mikko Rantanen was all over it with a goal and three assists, the 26th four-point game of his career. Jason Robertson opened the scoring at 9:03 of the first, finishing a 2-on-1 with Rantanen by snapping one low to the blocker side. Sam Steel made it 2-0 at 9:36 of the second from high above the slot. Rantanen then backhanded a Nils Lundkvist rebound off the end boards into an open net. Roope Hintz finished it on a feed from Wyatt Johnston, who had three assists, for the Stars' first power-play goal of the season. Dallas had been 0-for-9 with the man advantage.

"We had our legs again, I think that's the key," Rantanen said. "I think the last two games we've been playing really fast." Glen Gulutzan liked what he saw from the blue line: "Our 'D' has been moving the puck great the last couple games, and our forwards are working to spots for them. ... We've got to stack plays and games up on each other." Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 14 saves for Buffalo, which is 0-for-13 on the power play.

The Stars (2-2-0) have won two straight after a 0-2 start. The trip ends Saturday at Pittsburgh at 6 p.m. Central on Prime Video, per DallasStars.com, then Colorado comes to American Airlines Center on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN for Hockey Fights Cancer Night. The Stars will be short Joel Kiviranta, who blocked a shot Monday and isn't on the trip with a lower-body injury.

Follow the Dallas Stars into Pittsburgh. Radio question: is Otter already locked in for a big year, or is it too early to call?

Sources: NHL.com — Rantanen has four points, Stars blank Sabres; DallasStars.com — Game Day Guide: Stars at Sabres; AP News — Oettinger's second straight shutout.