Peter DeBoer Breaks Silence on Shocking Decision to Pull Jake Oettinger, Creating Turmoil

Stars head coach Peter DeBoer revealed the reason he pulled Jake Oettinger, which has led to some turmoil and controversy inside the team's locker room.

Dallas Stars head coach Peter DeBoer made headlines by yanking Jake Oettinger early on in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final, and his subsequent lack of support was revealing.

Over seven minutes into the game of elimination against Edmonton, Oettinger was pulled after allowing goals on the first two shots he faced.

Corey Perry scored, deflecting a Connor McDavid pass after being sent in by himself. Then, following a sloppy Stars line change, Mattias Janmark caught Oettinger out and also scored on a breakaway, prompting DeBoer to take a timeout.

DeBoer called out his goaltender while speaking to reporters, creating tension

Following a contentious huddle, DeBoer replaced his starter with backup goalie Casey DeSmith, and following the game, he shockingly explained why, which will almost certainly lead to locker room turmoil.

'I didn't blame it all on Jake, but the reality is, if you go back to last year's playoffs, he's lost six of seven games to Edmonton. And we gave up two goals on two shots in an elimination game,' DeBoer said post-game.

'It was partly to spark our team and wake them up. And partly knowing that status quo had not been working, and that's a pretty big sample size.'