We’ve got our playoff berth clinched now and we’re all excited about that accomplishment. We thought it was going to happen and we had the confidence in ourselves to get to where we are right now. We’re looking forward to the opportunity that we have to play real good hockey and see what can happen. It’s a whole new season when the playoffs start, so we’re looking forward to making good on it and trying to be one of the best teams in the playoffs.

Nick Foligno and the Sens are focused on the playoffs (Getty Images).

The feeling we had in beating the Islanders on Sunday to clinch that playoff berth was just awesome. There was a lot of pride in how hard we worked. That’s the biggest thing. We were just so proud of ourselves because we’ve come a long way and come together as a group. To get into the playoffs when a lot of people didn’t think we could ... it shows a lot of character on this team and I’m really proud of the fact we were able to do it.

It was funny having my brother, Marcus, and the Buffalo Sabres as one of the teams we had to fight off in the playoff race. But I better get used to it, because we’re going to be battling against each other for a long time. I’m really happy he’s had such a good showing for the Sabres. We’re all competitive but at the end of the day, Marcus is still my brother and he’s still somebody I want to see do well. He’s done a really good job for Buffalo and I wish him all the best.

Marcus and I have talked regularly through the whole thing. He’ll call me looking for little pointers and talking about his experiences. It’s a new thing for him, so it’s neat to see him go through this. It brings me back to how I felt when I first came into the league. He’s playing with a lot of excitement and I’m really proud of him.

This week, we have two games left in our season and our attitude is, keep the foot on the gas, so to speak, and continue to play good hockey. Tuesday night was tough for us (a 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes). It was a really weird game with some really weird calls, and Cam Ward played really well for them in net. I think we’re still playing really well and we’ve just got to continue to work hard and find ways to win games. We want to try to make sure we’re really sharp heading into playoff time and it starts with these two games.