Stanley Cup Final blog: Jake Oettinger

Dallas Stars goalie Jake Oettinger will be keeping his own blog throughout the 2020 Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He will check in regularly with behind-the-scenes access.
The 21-year-old was selected by the Stars in the first round (No. 26) of the 2017 NHL Draft and is in his second season in the Dallas organization, having turned pro in 2018 after three seasons at Boston University. His first two NHL games have come in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season. He played the third period of Game 3 against the Lightning, a 5-2 loss at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Wednesday, when he allowed no goals and made three saves in relief of starter Anton Khudobin. Oettinger's first NHL game was Game 2 of the Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sept. 8, when he relieved Khudobin in the third period, allowing no goals and making five saves.
Here is Oettinger's fourth entry following Dallas' 3-2 double-overtime victory in Game 5 at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Saturday. Tampa Bay leads the best-of-7 series 3-2 with Game 6 on Monday (8 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS).

Game 5 of the Final was pretty fun to be a part of, getting that game tied late in the third period and winning it in the second overtime.
I've never been part of a team where it feels like no matter what is going on, what is happening on the ice, you never feel like you're out of it. I think Game 5 was just another example of that with the guys in our locker room and our coaches, that they just don't think it's over until the final horn sounds. It's crazy what can happen when you do the little things right like we do day in and day out. To see guys get rewarded for that, get rewarded as a team, that's a great feeling. To keep this thing going, well, I get the feeling everyone's confident we're not out of this series and we're pumped for Monday.
When we were getting ready for the overtimes on Saturday, the room was pretty relaxed. Everyone's focused on the little things that we know we're going to have to do to be successful in overtime. The game gets so close and there's no room for error out there. In between periods, it feels like the guys are excited about the opportunity and they're also trying to enjoy the moment.
Game 5 shows again that you need different guys to step up in every game. Joe Pavelski had huge goal to tie the game 2-2 near the end of the third period for us, just unbelievable. And to see Corey Perry get two tonight and the game-winner is unreal. Those guys are such great leaders and have so much experience and it's nice to see them get rewarded.
Those veteran leaders show me that you can never take an opportunity like this for granted. It's so hard to win at this level. Teams are so good. The parity makes everything so close. The difference between the two teams is so small and those guys just appreciate so much what it means to win at this level, especially at this time of year, and what it means to get this far. I didn't understand it all until I saw for myself what goes into a playoff run like this. Different guys are stepping up every night. A bunch of guys are banged up and playing through multiple things, and there are so many little things it takes at this level to get to the point where we are right now. You're doing everything you can to capitalize on a moment like this, an opportunity like this.
Game 5 was another big night for Anton. He's pretty laid back, no matter what. During the TV timeouts he usually comes over to the bench and he sometimes will joke around, sometimes asks me what I'm seeing. But no matter what, he's definitely laid back and it's really fun to be his teammate. One of the things that makes him so good is how relaxed his is, and calm. He's never out there overthinking. He's just out there playing and doing his thing, and that's when he's at his best.
There's something for me to take away from this whole experience. Sometimes you find yourself thinking about stuff that hasn't even happened yet, but for him, nothing else is going on in his head, he's just out there battling and trying to stop the puck. For sure that will be something I'll take away from this.
He was unbelievable again tonight, 39 saves. I've said this before, but it's been some of the most unbelievable goaltending I've ever seen. A lot of people might remember the game-winning goal but the save Khudobin] had in Game 5 on Brayden Point's tip, he got it with his toe a couple of minutes before that in the second overtime, that's the biggest save of the season, if you ask me. Day in and day out, we've been able to count on him and he's been unbelievable and it's been incredible to watch. He's just the type of guy you root for, a great teammate.
Today is all about recovery for us. Since the start of the conference final, everything has been optional. For the young guys and the "Black Aces," we'll definitely get a light skate in and all the rest of the guys that battled hard for us in this back-to-back will get some much-needed rest and a recovery day.
Having a back-to-back in the Final is pretty crazy, pretty unusual, so the day off now will be great. I think most of our day is going to be about relaxing and it's another football day. Being from Minnesota, I'm looking for the Vikings to get on the board for their first win, but we'll see how that goes.
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*Here is Oettinger's third entry, following the 5-2 loss to the Lightning in Game 3 on Wednesday.*
After the second period ended in Game 3, coach Rick Bowness just tapped me and said, "Hey, you're going in for the third," so I had almost 20 minutes to prepare, which is nice. So I warmed up a little bit and did some hand-eye stuff to get myself back into being ready for a game.
Then I just went out there and did my best, and I thought the guys did a great job in front of me and made my life easier, which is nice. It was definitely cool to get into a Stanley Cup Final game for sure.
I felt a lot more comfortable in this game than the one against Vegas. It was just knowing what to expect a little more, and I feel every time I'm in there I'm getting more and more comfortable. It was nice to have that experience from the past, build on it and have a successful period, which I thought I did. It was not the situation we wanted as a team, trailing 5-1 after two, but I'm happy I could step in and do a good job and help out.
In the Vegas game, I had some nerves. I felt a lot calmer in this game against Tampa Bay, a lot less nervous, and I think that will come with more and more experience in the NHL. When the guys play as good as they did in front of you, then it definitely helps you out, and they did it again last night.
There were only three saves to make in the third period Wednesday. I felt I did a good job of staying in the moment. I like to break up the period into five-minute intervals and try to just get to the next one, and for me at least, you feel better when you're getting a lot of shots and getting into the game, but it's not always the case. As a goalie, you have to let the game come to you. You can't really go out there and make anything happen. So it's important to just focus on what you can control, and that's when you get an opportunity to make a save, then make it. That's something I've learned over the years.
During the third period Wednesday, referee Wes McCauley skated by and said to just have fun and play. That was nice of him. It was really cool. In the same way, all the guys are so supportive, and my teammates play hard when I'm in there, which I appreciate.
I wasn't the only one on our team Wednesday that was kind of fresh to the Stanley Cup Final.
[Nick Caamano
was in the lineup, his first NHL playoff game, and there was a reason he was called upon. We just needed him to play his game and do what got him there, and I thought he did that, played hard and did everything he does really well. It's nice to see guys that are in the position that I've been in, and he's been in, also guys like Joel Hanley and Joel Kiviranta, get a chance. It's not always easy to be bag-skating and doing all that stuff and not playing in the games. But once guys get rewarded with an opportunity and they do well, it's fun to see. I know everyone was happy for him, especially the rest of the "Black Aces."
A back-to-back is coming up with Game 4 on Friday and Game 5 on Saturday. Me, I'm going to focus on ramping up my recovery, do those little things that you can do to make sure you're feeling 100 percent. You have to do everything in your power to make sure you're 100 percent. I know everyone's going to be taking things seriously in the next couple of days in terms of sleep and recovery.
We had a short practice today. We had a lot of guys out there. At this time of year a lot of guys are banged up, but it was nice to see some guys on the ice, working on feeling good and getting ready to play. We had some goalie work before practice, as usual, and it was three of us today, Ben Bishop and Landon Bow as well. It's always fun to get out there and do some work with those guys.
I'm thinking here after practice that there's a nap in my afternoon, and then we're getting together for a team dinner tonight. Then I expect we'll be back in our team room to play some cards and watch some "Thursday Night Football." All the "Black Aces," we have a fantasy football league going, and that keeps us interested.
We're in the homestretch here in the bubble in Edmonton, and I was asked to complete this sentence, that the thing that has kept me sane in the bubble is ... I said it's FaceTime. Just being able to FaceTime with my buddies and my family, that's been huge. And when I'm not doing that, I guess the answer is cards. It's a way to pass some time, have fun with your buddies and win some money from them. That's actually been pretty fun.
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Here is Oettinger's second entry, following the 3-2 loss to the Lightning in Game 2 on Monday.
After Game 2, we just kind of went over it all our meetings today. One of the best parts of Tampa Bay's team, if not the best, is their power play and we know we can't give those guys that much of an opportunity. Even if they don't score, it gets their best guys in the game. I think that's one of the things we have to avoid if we want to have success against these guys. So on discipline, we just can't take that many penalties, especially early on in the game like that and find ourselves in that big of a hole. So not the start we wanted in Game 2 but I think we're going to learn from it.
We had an optional practice today in Rogers Place, mainly just the 'Black Aces' and a couple of guys who like to get their touches. I was out early again with Jeff Reese, our goalie coach, and at the end of it we had a minigame, which is always fun and those are always skates I look forward to. There are always different guys feeling it on a given day and I'd say Ty Dellandrea was on fire at practice today. He's one of the guys who's always out early to shoot on the goalies, which is nice. You can count on him to be there to shoot on you and goalies love guys like that.
The rest of our day is free so I'll be on FaceTime again today with my family and my girlfriend. I have a younger brother, Thomas, who's 6, and a younger sister Kendall, who's 8, and they like catching up every day. And I talk to my dad, Chris, pretty much every day, and same with my girlfriend. Thomas has started playing hockey and he's a goalie sometimes and when I've talked to him, I've been noticing some of the stuff he picks up that I'm doing. That's pretty cool.
Being so far away from home in Minnesota, and for this long, I thought just having FaceTime to stay in touch would be a lot harder than it's been but definitely the hours I've been spending with them keeps me close and I don't feel as far away as I am.
Another thing that's helping with those connections now is having an end date. This is the last series of these playoffs and we know it doesn't go any longer than Sept. 30 so that's definitely nice, to know you'll be getting home soon.
My dad and I, we had been planning a golf trip to Sand Valley in Wisconsin. We were going to wait to go until I was done with the playoffs but he actually got invited to go by one of our neighbors, so he went and he's been sending me a bunch of pictures, making me real jealous. But it looks like they had a great time and I'm still hoping I'll get to do that with him when I get back.
I'm a huge golfer, a member at Legends Club, near where we live in Minnesota and I've been missing that. But I don't think I've got any complaints about this year because I played as much golf as I've ever played in my life before training camp and the playoffs started, during the quarantine time earlier in the year.
One of the things that's been pretty frequent in the bubble is playing cards. I think most teams have. I've been playing mostly with the 'Black Aces' and I'm definitely up, that's for sure on this trip. So I'd put myself as one of the top guys and I'd say fellow goalie Landon Bow is also a bit of a card shark so me and him have probably cleaned up the best so far.
And a part of your day, every day, inside the bubble is food choices. My favorite was Chop, the steakhouse, but they closed that after the first month so that kind of hurt. But we've been getting food from Joey and Cactus Club a lot, those have been kind of my two go-to's on DoorDash. And now we just got a new food truck down in our courtyard, called The Lunch Box, and it's pretty good lunch food but there are not a lot of options. I honestly can't wait to get home and cook stuff on the grill and make myself whatever I want. I think that's probably going be a good steak. Haven't had that for a while, not since Chop closed down.
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Here is Oettinger's first entry, following the 4-1 victory by the Stars in Game 1 on Saturday.
Obviously everyone's really excited and happy to get off to such a great start but I think everyone knows the amount of work ahead and no one's getting too ahead of themselves. We did some good things in Game 1 and we have some things we need to work on. I think overall, as a team, we're feeling pretty confident and everyone knows there's work ahead.
We had a 3-1 lead after two periods in Game 1 and I think the way the guys have talked all the time has been not about sitting back but really going at these guys. Obviously they have a lot of high-end talent and some teams might be like, 'Hey, we need to sit back and make sure we contain these guys,' but for us, it's been more like, 'Hey, why don't we do what no one else has done and go at these guys and try to make it really tough on them?' So I think we've done that and I think we're going to try to continue that the rest of the way.
Anton Khudobin was big for us again in Game 1. He's been an unreal guy to be around and he's been one of, if not the biggest reason we have made it this far. It's some of the best goaltending I've seen in my entire life and to be able to be his teammate and learn from him every day, that's invaluable. He's laid back, easy-going and not too caught up in the extra stuff. He's just out there playing, doing what he does best, which is battling and competing and having fun and playing his game. The lessons I have learned from him, the way he's carried himself, that's something I'm going to take away from this when it's all said and done.
On our bench, I have one of the best seats in Rogers Place, and in the third period in Game 1, well, I think I'm more stressed on the bench than if I was in the net. I try to play it cool and I've been his No. 1 fan there. And again, that third period from him in Game 1 was so much fun to watch, and to be that close and a part of it is a very fortunate opportunity. It's made me appreciate his game that much more. He's a world-class goalie and I couldn't be happier for him.
Today, we practiced in the Downtown Community Arena around mid-day and I got out there early with our goalie coach Jeff Reese to work on some goalie-specific stuff. The amount of attention and work he's put into my game has been unbelievable. I can't say enough about what it does for a goalie to have your goalie coach, day in and day out, want to help you get better and work on your game. It has been unbelievable for me.
Since early in our time here I've been the backup most games. Jeff, from Day 1, has been stressing the importance that with this virus that nobody knows a ton about, I could be thrown in at any point and I need to make sure I'm ready to play games and play at an NHL level, which obviously I had never done before. He has done such a good job preparing me day in and day out, doing the extra stuff that he thought I needed to do to be successful. Without him, I'm not as prepared for the role I'm currently in and being a part of this team. I'm grateful for his help.
Our practice today was optional, so the rest of the black aces were out there, plus a few guys who wanted to get more ice, and we had a good practice.
After practice, we went to watch some football at the hotel. I'm from Minnesota, so it was disappointing that the Vikings were terrible again (lost 28-11 to the Indianapolis Colts), but we were also watching some of the U.S. Open since we have a lot of huge golf fans on our team. Days like this, we just hang out, relax with each other and play some cards.
Some of my free time in the bubble I've been spending with a couple of final courses from Boston University, where I went to college. My last course before I graduate is Spanish Level 2 and I was doing some homework on that today. It'll be nice to be finished. BU has been unreal to me since I left in 2018. One of the things that makes them stand out is that they honor your scholarship. For them to still pay for my education even though I'm not there goes to show how much the athletic department cares about their players and having them graduate.
Today was pretty normal in the bubble. I can only speak for myself on this but the first couple of weeks in the bubble seemed pretty cool, kind of like a hockey camp. We didn't know what to expect. It was new and kind of fun, but you do reach a point, kind of like February during the regular season, where it seems like it's getting long. But now that you reach the Western Conference Final and Stanley Cup Final, it hasn't taken long for guys that have never been there to muster up energy, and now that we're in this position, it's unbelievable. There's nowhere we'd rather be. I think everyone knew this was going to be hard, but at the end of it, hopefully, it's all going to be worthwhile.