Mike Knuble, Gimmick Warrior

Mike Knuble was the unlikely hero of the Gimmick last night as the Caps defeated the Penguins, 4-3. It was the first time in four tries that Knuble found the back of the net in the trick shot competition. That doesn’t tell the half of it.

Last night’s turn as the solo skater was not only Knuble’s fourth career try, it was his first in more than three years and the first time he was out there in what would end up a win for his team. Here are the other three…

December 3, 2005: Knuble took the ice in the first round of the Gimmick for Philadelphia, facing Nashville’s Tomas Vokoun. Knuble did not have a goal in the hockey portion of this game, but he did have an assist. Vokoun got the Predators off to a good start with a save, and Steve Sullivan and Paul Kariya took over from there, each netting a goal as Vokoun stymied Simon Gagne in round two for the 4-3 win in Nashville.

December 19, 2005: This time, Knuble – who had the only goal for the Flyers in regulation – had to wait as the Flyers and Sabres skated in the extra-extra frame. Jeff Carter, Peter Forsberg, and Jon Sim took their turns in the first three rounds, Forsberg skating in the second round and getting the only goal, a tally matched by Tim Connolly in the third round moments later. After Maxim Afinogenov beat Antero Niittymaki to give the Sabres the edge, it was up to Knuble. However, Ryan Miller was up to the task and stopped Knuble to clinch the win in Philadelphia, 2-1.

October 7, 2006: At Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, the Rangers and Flyers fought to a 4-4- tie in regulation, Knuble getting one of the goals for Philadelphia. After a scoreless overtime, the teams went to another extra session. One round without a goal, then two… then three… four… Neither Antero Niittymaki nor Henrik Lundqvist would crack in goal. Knuble’s turn came up in round 10, and he didn’t have any better success, shooting the puck wide on Lundqvist. The contest went to a 13th round, where Marcel Hossa put Niittymaki and the Flyers out of their misery with the only goal of the session, giving the Rangers a 5-4 win.

No wonder he doesn’t like Boudreau tapping him on the shoulder like that.


(photo: AP/Nick Wass)

The Duchesne Cup Finale

Yesterday, Group A defeated Group C in the second game of the Duchesne Cup round-robin tournament, 3-2 in a shootout. The standings now look like this...





All that is left is for Group A to meet Group B this afternoon. If Group B wins in regulation, then based on the NHL Gimmick Rules, Group C wins the Cup.

Balderdash!

Each team will have one win and one loss. Put 'em all out there for a round of Gimmick.

The Caps had a grand total of four shootout wins last year, good for a tie for 19th in the league. The previous year, the Caps had four wins via the Gimmick, good for another tie for 19th. This is not an especially proficient club when it comes to apres-hockey gimmickry. But it is something the league insists count in the standings, so what better practice could the guys have than getting gimmicky for something that counts? Except Group B has to do its part.

LET'S GO B'S...LET'S GO B'S...LET'S GO B'S!!!

UPDATE: Alas, no Gimmick today... Corey Masisak reports via Twitter that Group A won the Duchesne Cup with a 9-5 plastering of Group B, Alex Ovechkin with four assists.

...puck hog.

A thoughtful, and yet entertaining solution to "The Gimmick"

The Gimmick got me thinking…

It’s just so, well, bland. Three guys, three shots, skate in, do your thing, one team scores one more than the other, everyone goes home.

There must be a better way.

Well, your ol’ pal Uncle Peerless has the prescription for your mid-winter overtime blues. We revamp overtime.

Round One – Four-on-Four.

We’d leave this part of the overtime unchanged. If a team scores before five minutes are up, everybody gets home before The Daily Show comes on. But, if not…

Round Two – Three-on-Three.

Now, we start to have some fun. It’s three-on-three with a catch. Only one defender can enter and defend in the defensive zone at a time; only two attackers can be in the offensive zone. The three-on-three stuff is a neutral zone thing, only, to advance the puck. If more than one defender occupies the defensive zone, or of all three attackers occupy the attacking zone…penalty. If we’re still tied after five minutes…

Round Three – Two-on-Two.

Here’s the catch. The skaters have to tie their legs together – sort of a “three-legged-race” thing. It would make for some tough strategy decisions. Imagine Alex Ovechkin and Michael Nylander tied together…one is attacking the net, the other is doing salchows in the circle. Or, do you put a forward and a defenseman together? Two defensemen? What if the defensemen are Mike Green and Jeff Schultz? And, if that doesn’t work, and we’re still tied after five minutes?...

Round Four – One-on-One

This is the “gladiator” round. The coaches pick one player, each. Whoever they pick, they have to stay out there for the entire five (or fewer) minutes. If a player goes down to injury, the player still standing has to await the call from the referee – thumbs up, he gets a chance to shoot a penalty shot at the other goalie. If the referee chooses thumbs down, the player gets to kill the player on the ice.

Round Five – Goalie on Goalie

This is the no-holds-barred, “ultimate fighting championship” portion of the competition. Anything goes…want to whack your opponent with the paddle of the stick? Go for it. Pick up a handful of snow and toss it into his mask? Be our guest. Whatever. Anything a goalie can do to get the puck in the other net – while letting off some steam that has been building up from being abused in his crease all night – well, use your imagination, guys. And if, by some stroke of fate, we’re still tied after five minutes?

Mascots. We just haven’t figured that one out, yet.

Why Boyd?

There is a lot of knashing of teeth this morning about the selection of Boyd Gordon to take the decisive -- and ultimately unsuccessful -- Gimmick shot in last night's 6-5 loss to the Devils.

Fair question.

Viktor Kozlov and Alex Ovechkin had already tried and failed, and the Caps didn't have, say, a Sergei Fedorov available to use his vast store of experience in that situation. Alexander Semin, with his bag of stick-handling tricks, was sitting this one out, too. So...Gordon?

Well, to whom could the Caps turn in that situation?

There was Michael Nylander, who was 11-for-27 in his career in the Gimmick phase of the game, including 1-for-2 this year. But there is the fact that Nylander hasn't had a real goal of his own since the Pittsburgh game on October 16th. Then again, his was the game-winning Gimmick goal against Nashville on October 28th.

There was also the possibility of Brooks Laich, but he was 2-for-10 for his career in this thing and hadn't had a successful attempt since the 2005-2006 season (neither of his successful attempts had been on the road).

Nicklas Backstrom? The kid's been on a roll lately, and he was 1-for-3 in his career attempts.

Gordon was also 1-for-3 in his career attempts, but failed even to get a shot off as Scott Clemmensen guessed right and poke-checked the puck off of Gordon's stick before an attempt could be made.

In retrospect, we suspect Coach Boudreau was playing a hunch of sorts. But all other things considered, we just wish Matt Bradley took things into his own hands one more time.