It all boils down to this moment. The penultimate game of the Stanley Cup Final between the Oilers and the Panthers is not very far away. With the Panthers leading 3-2 in the series, a win here will hand them the Stanley Cup title, whereas the Oilers need to win the upcoming game to keep their hopes alive. With all to play for, the strategies for the match have begun to unfold even before the start of the match, leaving fans shocked and surprised.

The Panthers came out for the morning skate early, and their 29-year-old star, Carter Verhaeghe, was seen practicing away from the team. In fact, he was getting solo reps on the Oilers’ practice sheet, so Edmonton can’t get on the ice early. It was a tactful mind game from the Panthers’ star ahead of the all-important Game 6 of the pulsating series.

Meanwhile, the Panthers aren’t new to playing mind games with their opponents during crucial junctures in their campaign. Oilers star Evander Kane also highlighted this aspect, saying, “I think they maybe get a little too much credit for how crazy they drive teams… They seem to get away with it more than we do. It’s tough to find the line. They’re doing just as much stuff as we are. There seems to be a little bit more attention on our group.” While the Panthers have gotten away with it on most occasions, they left the fans stunned on this occasion as Verhaeghe played some solid mind games.

Carter Verhaeghe catches fans’ eyes with unusual act

Not many had foreseen Verhaeghe walking out alone to get solo reps on the Oilers’ practice sheet. This eventually prevented the Oilers from getting the timely morning skate, even as the Panthers turned up early for their session. Thus, a fan called out Verhaeghe’s unusual act, saying, “I don’t get the sense that Verhaeghe is the one who’d be intentionally f**king with the Oilers.” The fan wasn’t very happy with the Panthers’ star spoiling the all-important practice session of the Oilers ahead of Game 6.

Similarly, another fan also didn’t approve of Verhaeghe’s mind games at a crucial juncture in the series. In what was a poor sign of sportsmanship, a fan slammed him, saying, “This is bulls**t!” The fan wasn’t happy that Verhaeghe had a separate practice and not with his team, as he also disrupted the Oilers’ schedule. On the other hand, one of the Twitter users reasoned out why Verhaeghe hadn’t done anything wrong. “This is the Panthers practice arena he can do that if he wants. Edmonton can practice in the ice den in Coral Springs if it bothers them,” the fan wrote, as he felt that the Panthers’ star was well within his boundaries while training alone.

Meanwhile, some of the fans even made a mockery of Verhaeghe’s mind games before a crucial encounter. One of the fans couldn’t stop laughing after watching the clip, saying, “Ohhh this is taking me out lmfao.” Indeed, this was a first-of-its-kind incident, which hadn’t been experienced before by these fans. Lastly, a section of fans failed to understand what was wrong with Verhaeghe getting solo reps on his home turf. “This should be a fine. Grow the f**k up,” said one fan, who called out the unnecessary criticism of the Panthers star.

After working out on his own, Verhaeghe left the practice early. Subsequently, the Oilers asked the arena staff not to flood so they could get Podkolzin and a few others out early. With so much going on ahead of the game, it’ll be interesting to see how the battle turns out later today.