Obviously, with the amount of ice time I was getting, the situation with our team, it wasn't a shocker. I've been around long enough to realize the situation I was in.

Obviously, it's not a good situation. Nobody wants to see [a work stoppage] happen, and it's always looming over in the corner that we may not be playing hockey. And that scares me more then anything else.

I feel like I can contribute. I'm not playing the way that I want to. With the new rules and with the new systems we have, I'm not playing as much. I'm not playing up to my standards, that's first and foremost. I'm the one who has to look at myself in the mirror every day and I have high expectations for myself.

Our special teams have been [bad] to say the least. Our penalty kill has not been going very well [nine power-play goals allowed in four losses] and we have not been getting that big power-play goal when we need it. When we were on that [10-1-1] streak the power play was going. We need to get back to that.

A lot of mixed emotions. But that was 48 hours. After that 48 hours, I was able to reflect back on 23 years. So I'm not going to let 48 hours spoil my fun.

We just needed to find a way to win. Our (confidence) was a little shaky. Three weeks ago we were on a pretty good streak and things just don't change overnight. ... It comes down to believing in each other and finding a way to win.