TAMPA, FL – I would be lying if I told you that my favorite of all five games we have played so far was the one against the Phoenix Coyotes. Sure, we did put up a great offensive show, but I think we furthermore came as a team against the Ottawa Senators. It was a great exciting game with back and forth action until the decisive goal would be scored by Nick Foligno early in overtime.

If I needed to name my least favorite goaltender, I’d name him Marc-Andre Fleury. It has been more and more difficult to put up with this guy in front of the crease, and I can only give you so many examples like last spring’s post-season with the Flyers or last night’s 5-1 loss to the Penguins. It has been a tough game and none of our best offense was able to pierce through this guy if not their defense first of all. Our defensive end hasn’t exactly been playing top notch but I believe it still gets the job done for the most part, and it’s only a matter of time before it kicks in higher gear. This team has changed a lot over last year’s edition and most of us are still adjusting to the new stuff, it certainly isn’t five games that will put it all into place.

Loving everything that has happened to me since I’ve been here in Tampa, I couldn’t be happier. We are just five games into the season and I’m getting a lot of these questions about how it feels to have left a team that was winning all the time to one that has its struggles here and there. I absolutely love it, I crave the challenge and it is one of the many reasons I decided to come here. Am I saying that I like to lose? No! But I do love battling for something rather than just simply taking it away. Ever felt happier to be angry for a loss and try harder the next time? To me, it just feels much more of an accomplishment.

I haven’t taken a look at statistics so far, but I’ve been taking notice that Patrick Cross is showing good stuff in Philadelphia as part of the Flyers. I’m not surprised because I always thought he was meant to score goals in this league. Four in four games is a good beginning, let’s hope he can light up some more.

There’s nothing like a Sunday morning to yourself at home, lying in bed with the sun shining in through the window. I’ve been thinking about having breakfast with Stammer and anyone else who wants to join, I’m not sure if he’s even home – texting him as I write this, hooray for multitasking. Anyway, tomorrow we will be facing the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team that has been going through a continual upward journey in the competitive scale and I’m looking forward to see how they’ve changed since last season considering I haven’t been following their situation – I just know they have a sizeable bunch of great players there.

Oh yeah, I’ll use this to send a little message. I sincerely hope Alexander Semin will be much less excited than he was last night from now on, almost snapping Vic’s (Victor Hedman) fingers and Wizz’ (Ty Wishart) jaw off. Because if I can bring a tree down (I won’t name anyone in particular here…), don’t try to imagine what I’ll do to him…