The whole All-Star Weekend here in Las Vegas was a lot of fun. I met a lot of different guys I normally don't see, so it was definitely a good weekend.
I had a lot of text messages when I got back to the locker room after I dressed up as Alan (Zach Galifianakis' character) in "The Hangover" for the Breakaway Challenge on Friday. You know, I think everyone was kind of surprised. That's probably not my cup of tea, but I had a lot of fun with it.
I got to play with Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar in the games on Saturday. They're great players. You see the offensive skill they have and it's pretty cool to see, definitely in a 3-on-3 game, how smooth they're skating and the moves they can make.
Minnesota forward Kirill Kaprizov was a linemate on Saturday, as well. He's a great player, too, and you see it on that one goal where he fakes the shot and puts it back door. We've seen that a couple of times with "Kaner" (Blackhawks forward and sometimes linemate Patrick Kane). But it was cool to play with him and fun to get out there and compete against the other teams.
I kind of knew that the last goal I scored in the final against the Metropolitan Division was not going to count, though. I ended up jumping in a little too early [and it was ruled a no-goal after being reviewed]. It is what it is.
Friday after the skills competition, I went to dinner, and then we went to a comedy show with my wife (Lyndsey) and my mom (Tracey). So that was a good time. I think I'm going to go to dinner again on Saturday and we'll see where the night takes me.
We've had a couple of longer road trips here in Las Vegas with the Blackhawks, but other than that, I've never been here. So, it was good to just walk around and not be so focused on the hockey aspect of it. So, it was a good time.
The city is pretty crazy. I don't know if I'd want to stay here for too much longer. No, I'm kidding, it's good. There are so many good restaurants and things to do, so you never really have much downtime and you're always doing something.
As for the rest of the regular season, I think I want to play a little more defensive. Obviously, the more you play defensively, you can get some breaks off of that. And as a team, we just want to win games. Being seventh in the Central, I think we've got to do everything it takes to win and get back in the race.
