Pat Svoboda on Riga's Resurgence

[StamkosFan 72]

Pat Svoboda flashed a rare smile in talks with reporters after a practice session, and quickly provided the reason why. "We're climbing the standings, which has made me really happy! We were battling for a playoff spot, I suppose we still are, there's still some teams in the mix there, but we hit 70 points and we're hanging on to fourth place. We've worked so hard on the ice to come back and try to get into the postseason, and I'm looking forward to giving it another go. I want to hoist a Continental Cup over my head one day, so why not now? I'm feeling good about how we've been playing in this last, most recent set of games, we can take on anyone any time playing like that. And of course, I'm back in the 20 goal territory, in fact I passed it a little bit ago. I got 21 goals now and that makes me so pumped; I was not happy with my performance last year, so doing better than that obviously was the prime directive. Who knows, it's within reach to hit 25 and maybe even go for 30. Hat tricks can happen; I haven't had one in awhile so I think I'm due," said Pat Svoboda.