Stanley Cup Final blog: Carter Verhaeghe

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Carter Verhaeghe will be keeping his own blog throughout the 2020 Stanley Cup Final against the Dallas Stars. He will check in regularly with behind-the-scenes access.
Verhaeghe was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the third round (No. 82) of the 2013 NHL Draft before being traded to the New York Islanders on Sept. 17, 2015, and then to the Lightning on July 1, 2017. He made his NHL debut this season on Oct. 3, and is playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time. He has two assists in six playoff games and made his debut in the Final in Game 2, playing 7:01.
Here is Verhaeghe's third entry following the 3-2 double overtime loss to the Stars in Game 5 at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Saturday. The Lightning lead the best-of-7 series 3-2 with Game 6 on Monday (8 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS).

My dad, Thomas, got to the bubble last Saturday from his home in Waterdown, Ontario, about 40 minutes west of Toronto. He had some time off from his job as a firefighter, so it was kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He wanted to come and be here for it.
He had to quarantine at home for about a week and a half, I think. He was getting tested every other day or every third day. After he got here last Saturday, he had to stay in his room for four days. I think he was there for Game 3 on Sept. 23, that was the day he got out.
It was cool to have him in the stands. These are obviously different circumstances, but it was awesome having him there. He's pretty excited to be here. We got to enjoy the opportunity we have here, enjoy the moment.
The last time I'd seen him was on March 10, when we went to Toronto, the last game before the pause. He came to the game.
I think a couple of other guys have family here, probably five or six other guys have their parents here. I don't think anyone on the Lightning have their spouse or kids in the bubble.
My dad introduced me to the game. Growing up he was a huge influence -- both my parents were -- in getting me to where I am today. He's been huge with everything. I talk to him after the game, talk to him about the game, stuff like that. Kind of helps you mentally. He's been great. Took me to all my games and practices -- both my parents did. My dad and my mom, Karen, were a huge impact in my career, both of them.
I got to see him before Game 3. That was his first day he got out of quarantine, so I saw him for lunch. Then I saw him after the game. It's nice seeing my dad, it's nice having him here, but it doesn't really change our routine much. We still have team meetings, and off-days are rest days, but it's nice to have someone to talk to and see, someone that's there to support you. It's pretty nice having him.
The whole reason he's here is because he wants to be here if we win the Stanley Cup, but even [with me] playing in the Final. But yeah, if we're going to end up winning the Cup, he wants to be here, and he's been a vital part of my career, so he deserves to be here too.
Coming off our loss on Saturday, I think we're just kind of looking at it as a new day. Tomorrow we have a new opportunity, another opportunity to get things done. It was a tough one last night, a tough pill to swallow. I expect us to come back with a better effort tomorrow. We kind of want to just turn the page. We can't do anything about it now. We can't dwell on the past and put our energy on something that happened already. We're focused on the future and what we need to do tomorrow to have success.
Back-to-backs are tough in the regular season when there's no overtime, so going into overtime both games, the guys -- on both teams -- were pretty tired after that. Today is kind of rest, recover and get ready for tomorrow.
We're hoping it ends tomorrow. I have confidence in our guys that if we keep playing the same way we'll have an opportunity to close it out tomorrow. But it's one game at a time. We've just got to think about the next game.
I don't think it feels like it's coming to an end yet. It just feels like the same routine over and over again. I think when it's finally over, then it will feel like the end. Right now, we can taste it. But we can't let it slip.
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Here is Verhaeghe's second entry, following a 3-2 loss to the Stars in 2OT in Game 5 on Saturday.
The big news for our team in Game 3 was that Steven Stamkos was back. It was obviously a huge lift for us. He's our captain, our leader, and I think everybody was happy to see him get in. It definitely gave us some momentum in that game, to see him score on his first shot.
Even him being on the bench is huge for the morale of the team. It was obviously really nice to see that.
I didn't know Stammer before I got to Tampa. He's from around where I'm from, close to Toronto, but I didn't know him, but I met him in Tampa. He's been awesome. He's a great leader for the team. He's a great guy. He's easy to talk to and be around. He's been through a lot of injuries and stuff in his career. I think it was really nice to see him get that goal last night. It was really special.
He's a really hard worker. He comes to the rink every day with a positive attitude and he's a good guy to be around. A guy you want on your team. You can learn lots from someone like that who's been in the League for so long and has scored so many goals, played so many games, and been through so much stuff. He's seen a lot of stuff and it's just nice to be on the same team as him.
All of the guys on the team have really been good to me. We have a lot of good veterans on our team who have been around a long time. It's pretty awesome watching (Victor) Hedman, Stammer, guys like that. All the guys are really nice, and we have some great leadership on this team. It's awesome to see.
A lot of these guys have played in the League for 10 years. I remember growing up watching Stammer. I think he was on the cover of the video game I played. When I first got here, it was pretty surreal to see guys like him and Hedman and (Nikita) Kucherov. Being on the same team with them was pretty special. They make you feel comfortable and they're really great guys. They make you feel like just their teammate.
On Wednesday, I sat in the press box. It's not my decision to make, obviously. It stinks not playing. But you kind of just do the best you can and try and learn things from the game. I think everyone's trying to stay positive and in the same direction. We're all trying to accomplish a goal. Just rooting for the boys.
Today, there wasn't a different feeling now that we're up 2-1. I think it's kind of been the same feeling throughout the whole thing, whether it's the first round, qualifiers, or whatever it is. It's the same attitude: We've got a job to do and just sticking with it. We've got to stay even- keeled. I think all the guys have been really good at that, knowing the job's not done yet.
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Here is Verhaeghe's first entry, following a 3-2 win against the Stars in Game 2 on Monday.
I found out I was playing in Game 2 the day before. I kind of thought I was in, but I didn't know. I treated it just like a normal game, knowing I've just got to do my job out there. It was exciting to be playing in the Stanley Cup Final. Still, I just had a normal day, a normal game day.
The atmosphere was good. Without the fans, it's a little different, but all the guys were ready. The team was playing well. There was a lot of positivity on the bench. We didn't get too high or low on ourselves. We kept it even-keeled. I liked the way our team played. We've gotten this far for a reason. We didn't change anything crazy, just stuck with it and came out with a lot of energy, stuck to what's made us successful so far.
This series, there's a lot more pace to it. The Stars play with a lot more speed, there are a lot of speedy guys throughout their lineup. Every series is different. Boston (Bruins) played a different way. Columbus (Blue Jackets) played a different way. We've got to adapt to how to play against different teams. The one big thing that is a little different than the (New York) Islanders is their speed.
You're seeing the same players over and over again, so you get to know their habits. That's what's good about a series, you keep seeing the opponent over and over again, so you can figure them out a little bit, where you can take advantage.
Eight weeks into being in the bubble, I think it's pretty cool being in a hotel, being around the guys all the time. Most of the time you're not around the guys this much. It's definitely made us as a group a lot tighter. We're around each other 24/7. During a normal season, you go to the rink for a couple hours, then go home.
Being around each other all the time, you get to know guys pretty well. You get pretty close to them. You're at the rink with them, you're at team dinner every night with them, you're playing games with them. It's really helped our group bond. We had a close group already and I think even more so now after eight weeks together.
There's been some downtime on this off day, but it's pretty busy. We play every other day, so it's game day routine, the next day is all about recovery. Today we had to get some fluids, meals, get treatment, get the body ready for tomorrow, and then we're playing again tomorrow. There's not really a break, which is kind of nice. It keeps you busy.
Every day we have breakfast in our room together, the whole team eats breakfast. Then on an off day we don't have lunch set up. So there's usually a couple good food trucks set up outside here in Edmonton. The tacos are really popular. All the guys like those. It's a hot commodity. There's a big line in front of that taco truck. I've only gone with the chicken tacos, but I hear good things about all of them.
At night, usually we have a team meeting the night before the game, then a team dinner following the meeting. Then I usually play some board games with the guys or some Xbox. If it's board games, it's Super Tock. The guys like to play it. I just learned it in the bubble, and if it's Xbox, a lot of the guys have been playing Call of Duty. That's the game right now. It changes.
Some series you have more of a break. This one between the Islanders and Dallas, we didn't have much of a break. It was one day off and then roll right into the next series. It took a little bit of time to adjust to that, but now it's game on.
You look at our group and how far our team has come. We changed the way we played. There's been a lot of stuff that's happened over the course of the year. I'm pretty proud of all of the guys on our team, how far we've come. We still have some work to do.