DALLAS — Dallas Stars coach Pete DeBoer pulled his goalie twice in seven video games within the Western Conference semifinals towards Seattle.
Jake Oettinger didn’t take both transfer as an indication of panic. Quite the alternative, which the 24-year-old goalie believes helps clarify DeBoer’s good report in Game 7s in his teaching profession.
“I think if your coach is back there freaking out and hitting the panic button every time you lose, I think that trickles down into the group,” Oettinger stated. “He’s the exact opposite of that.”
DeBoer reached 7-0 in winner-take-all conferences with the Stars’ 2-1 victory over the Kraken on Monday evening. He’s the third coach to win a Game 7 with 4 completely different groups.
Dallas performs a type of groups, the Vegas Golden Knights, within the West ultimate beginning Friday evening in Las Vegas. DeBoer was fired after Vegas missed the playoffs final season.
“There’s a lot to unpack there,” DeBoer stated with fun. “I think we’ll just enjoy tonight and talk about that as we go forward.”
The solely coach within the 4 main professional sports to win extra Game 7s with no loss was Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Red Auerbach, who was 8-0 with the NBA’s Boston Celtics.
The pulling of Oettinger in a 7-2 loss in Game 3 and once more in a 6-3 loss in Game 6 was by no means something greater than a reset. Oettinger beginning the following recreation was by no means doubtful, and he received each.
“I appreciate that coming from Jake, who for me is our calming presence as a team with how he plays,” DeBoer stated when advised of Oettinger’s tackle his coach’s calm demeanor.
“It’s something you learn as a coach,” DeBoer stated. “I think you come into the league fiery and excitable and you realize you can have more impact picking your spots and being a calming presence when there’s a lot of chaos going on.”
DeBoer is the primary coach to steer 4 completely different groups to the convention ultimate in his first season. He’s additionally one sequence victory away from taking a 3rd workforce to the Stanley Cup Final in his debut.
With New Jersey in 2011-12, DeBoer’s first profession playoff sequence went seven video games because the Devils beat Florida on the way in which to the Cup ultimate.
Four years later in his first season with San Jose, DeBoer received his second Game 7 within the West semifinals towards Nashville.
There had been two Game 7 victories with the Sharks in 2019 towards Vegas and Colorado earlier than a six-game defeat to St. Louis within the West finals.
DeBoer took over the Golden Knights midseason in 2019-20, successful a Game 7 over Vancouver within the playoff bubble in Canada earlier than shedding to the Stars within the West finals.
Vegas beat Minnesota in Game 7 of a first-round sequence in 2021.
“Game 7, there’s a lot of emotion,” DeBoer stated. “The guys are wound up. There’s nobody that isn’t ready to play and give everything they’ve got. They know the stakes.”
The different two coaches to win Game 7s with 4 completely different groups are Darryl Sutter (Chicago, San Jose, Calgary and the Los Angeles Kings) and Scotty Bowman (St. Louis, Montreal, Pittsburgh and Detroit).
Sutter and Bowman received a number of Stanley Cups. The 54-year-old DeBoer is in search of his first.
“He believes in this group of guys and that if we do what he’s teaching us and what we do as a group well, I think if we do that, he believes we can win the Cup,” Oettinger stated. “Belief starts and ends with him, and his demeanor trickles down to the whole group.”
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