BLOG - Of course I’m happy we are up three to nil in the series with Pittsburgh . But I’ve seen a lot in playoffs and I know the end comes only when it’s really over… Which means there is one more game to win for us. Am I surprised there have been so many goals? I don’t make any guesses in advance and I don’t give any thought to whether I was right or wrong afterwards. I take it as it comes.

And, all in all, I take it without any emotions. I try not to be provoked by anything. It is not good to be too much up or too much down, to be too elated or too depressed. At least, this is how it works with me. I concentrate only on things I can control, and I want my psyche to be balanced all the time. No matter which way the wind blows, one must stay cool. There’s no other way. Otherwise I’d laugh twenty times and weep ten times in every game …

There is a lot of talk now about Sidney Crosby and what he’s been doing on the ice. Some give it a lot of thought, others less. And I am a guy who does not care at all, I take no notice. He does harm only to himself. But every man is different, perhaps this helps him get into the game and play better.

But I don’t want to add any more comments; I really take no notice of it. In fact, when on the ice, I hardly know something like this is going on. I really want to focus on my game, to be as useful as possible to my team.

And that he swept Voras’ (Jakub Voráček’s) glove away with his stick? Well, it’s no big deal; one can pick it up a few yards further on… Sure, I understand there are people who take it differently, which is right. This is what the team is about. Every player is different, every team needs someone with a cool head to calm things down, but also players with an emotional attitude.

If everyone were like me, the team would get roughed up and beaten by others all the time; on the other hand, if all of us were short-fused, we would spend most of our game time inside the penalty box rather than on the ice. So this is what the team is about.

Personally, I don’t care about the “Crosby issue”. I even don’t know what newspapers have written about it. I believe we shouldn’t care; we should stick to our game and try to maintain the same excellent team spirit we have enjoyed throughout the regular season. There is no point in changing anything.

We will play the next game on Wednesday, but I don’t want to predict the outcome. We of course want to win, but what matters most in my opinion is that every player finishes it with a feeling he’s given to it everything he could. I believe we can win if we keep our game close to our top performance standard. Everything is in our hands now.

As to me, I don’t follow how many points I have collected or whether I succeeded in delivering a nice pass. I simply try to play my best game, that’s all. Moreover, I didn’t spend so much time on the ice because of the penalties. In fact, I hardly realize we play a playoff round at all.

But I’m not complaining. On the contrary, I believe this can in fact help me if our team qualifies for the next round. As a matter of fact, I was always beaten and spent after the first four playoff games, but it is different now. As I said, it hardly comes to my mind the playoffs have already begun.

What I do mind, though, is that I have to spend some time on the bike after the game, it tires me more than the match itself… I was used to spending 22 minutes on the ice in every game, and with the less ice time now I try to make up for it with one-minute sprints at the highest ratio and revs. I push for one minute, and then I take a one-minute rest.

It depends on how much time I have spent on the ice. If I have had, say, just 12 minutes of ice time, I do the sprints for an additional ten minutes. To make up for less ice time.

I know a time may come when I will be required to spend 22 minutes on the ice. And if I didn’t add to my game load, I know I wouldn’t be able to. I simply couldn’t hack it. This is why I have introduced the bike sessions. But you have to put so much effort into it! Worse than a game …. On top of everything else, I see others leaving, while I am still pedaling. But I do it for myself and I know that I need to.

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