I was told after our game Saturday (a 4-3 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres) that I had 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in December and nine (six goals, three assists) the previous two months combined. I didn't know that stat about my uptick in scoring. You want to contribute as much as you can, but I just try to focus on my overall game and being solid defensively. When you do that, you play more in the offensive zone, and then you want to be a factor there.
Whether it's just moving my feet or using my body to draw penalties, sometimes you have a great shift and you draw a penalty. You do something good that doesn't show up on the score sheet, and then the power play goes out there and gets the job done. I take a lot of pride in things like that.
After this game, we can turn our attention to the Winter Classic. I think the atmosphere will be pretty good at Fenway compared to TD Garden. I think the fans are always great, putting that out there first, but I think when you're playing good hockey, and it's been a pretty good year so far, the fans are always a little more upbeat than they usually are, so I think it will be a cool atmosphere.
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I went to the Winter Classic in Fenway as a fan in 2010 (the Bruins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 in overtime), so I remember what it was like then, and I would expect this time to be no different, if anything even better.
Interacting with the fans at the Winter Classic Plaza on Friday was great. I didn't know what to expect, really. When you're playing on different days, you forget what day it is. It was a Friday, so I didn't realize that people were going to be out during the day because it was still a work day, but there were so many people there. They had the games going, things you could do for kids and anyone, really. It was like a mob scene, but it was pretty cool though.
That's the atmosphere it's going to be like except on a larger scale come Fenway time. I haven't been on the ice at Fenway yet, I've just seen the pictures on Instagram. Tomorrow we'll have practice on the ice, and then we'll get to have a family skate, so that will be cool and we'll have everyone out there with us. That'll be one of the cool moments, so we'll kind of get the awe factor out of the way on Sunday.
It's hard to know exactly what the ice is going to be like, how the boards are, how the puck bounces off the ice, if there's going to be any tweaks, so that'll be something we'll just have to get used to, and we get that out of the way and come game time, we'll be ready to go.
Thanks for following my blog before and after the Winter Classic!
