Earlier in the year my wife and I were just bored one day, so we got out the calendar and decided to see where my 500th game would be. We couldn't believe it when we saw that it was Nashville. We actually had to count again. We've both still got a lot of friends here. She'll be at the game this afternoon as well, just taking it all in.
I think some guys honestly don't really care about things like games played, but for me it's important. I'm still relatively young in this league. I still feel really good and that I have a lot of hockey left in me. I mean, 500 games is something that I've been looking forward to not only this year, but even going back to last year. It's a big number and something that I'm proud of.
It's kind of cliché, but the one bit of advice that's really stuck with me throughout my career and helped me get to this point is to just control what you can control. That's all you can focus on. There's so many things that happen that you can't control, so you can't worry about all of that.
All that I can worry about is my work ethic, my attitude and my approach to every day. It's coming into the rink with a smile on my face and not worrying about the things you can't control. I think that's kind of stuck with me forever, especially coming into the league when I was trying to establish myself as a player. It's just putting your head down and going to work.
This whole season has been a lot of fun. It's been a crazy year, especially with how it started. I sat out there for three games as a scratch and then just kind of found my way. I've been playing a lot better. I feel really good out there right now. I feel like my game has taken another step this year offensively.
It's just nice to be in the playoff race. It's the best time of the year to be playing hockey. We've really clawed ourselves back into the race here and this is an important trip for us. Honestly, it seems like we've been on the road for the whole year, but after this we're at home for a while.
Those upcoming games at home, they mean something now. I feel like our team is tough to play against at home. Even going back to last year before I got here, this team's made that rink a really tough place to play. The schedule sets up nice where we'll be home around three or four weeks now and also have some time in between games to get outside and see some sun.
It's going to be exciting to hit 500 games tonight, but we've also got a lot of big games ahead.
Looking forward to getting back home and stringing more wins together,
Nick Cousins
\As told to FloridaPanthers.com's Jameson Olive*
