The 26-year-old Oettinger, meanwhile, is one Stars win away from sealing a pretty strong case as the US starter. He’s got a 6-4 record thus far in the playoffs, has led Dallas to a pair of crucial road wins and has only had one “bad” game out of 10 starts, a 7-4 loss in Game 6 to the Avalanche.

Oettinger has yet to win a Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie, but he out-duelled the two-time winner, and this year’s favourite for a third, in the critical fourth game of the series, stopping 30 of 31 shots in a 3-1 Stars win.

Jake Oettinger was the Team USA backup goalie during the 4 Nations Face-Off. He didn't play as much, but his eventual goal is to be the starter in the net for the United States.

The Stars are one win from a trip to the Western Conference finals after Tuesday’s 4-1 win vs. the Jets in Game 4 at American Airlines Center, and with a 3-1 series lead over the Presidents’ Trophy winners. Dallas, which has won two straight against Winnipeg, can advance to the next round with a Game 5 win Thursday at Canada Life Centre.

The Dallas Stars lost to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday to continue their Stanley Cup Playoffs series. Despite a dominant game from Roope Hintz and Mikko Rantanen, Dallas could not close out the series.

(AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Winnipeg Jets’ Gabriel Vilardi (13) celebrates a goal scored by Kyle Connor, standing nearby, as Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger (29) lies on the ice after the score in the first period of Game 3 of a second-round NHL ...

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If anyone expected a Finnish player on the Dallas Stars to score a hat trick in Game 4, it probably would not have been Mikael Granlund.