Capitals’ Knuble finally feeling at home

By: Justin Creech
Mike Knuble is currently enjoying the best goal scoring month of his National Hockey League career. The rugged forward has 11 goals in the 14 games the Capitals have played this month including three two-goal games with the last of those two-goal games coming Friday night in the Capitals 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers.
Knuble, who now has 18 goals on the season, has flourished since being reunited with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom on the Capitals top line at the beginning of the month.
“I obviously play with good line mates,” said Knuble about his play this month. “If you’re going to be successful in this league it’s always about who you’re playing with. “To be honest I’ve got a lot of breaks in front of the net with a lot of my bounces and loose pucks and stuff, so, kind of what I’ve done the last few years and what I intended to do at the beginning of the year .”
Since Knuble, Ovechkin, and Backstrom were reunited on January 5 against the Montreal Canadians, they have flourished. The trio has combined for 49 points (25g, 24a) in the thirteen games since.
“We can get the puck in deep and we know with [Knuble] that he can play physical game and win the battle in the corners,” said Ovechkin. “He’s that kind of guy, and he’s unbelievable in front of the net. You can see how by how many goals he has scored in front of the net.”
Knuble began the season on the first line with Ovechkin and Backstrom, but was quickly removed after the line struggled to gel and Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau continued to search for four consistent forward lines.
“It was frustrating to not have it work out right away,” said Knuble of not gelling early in the season with Ovechkin and Backstrom. “Bruce, coaching wise, [is] not a real patient guy. If he’s not getting results he likes to shake things up because he wants something to happen right away.”
Despite his recent prosperity, Knuble struggled to find his way with the Capitals at the beginning of the season. After playing in Philadelphia the previous four seasons under then Flyers Coach John Stevens, Knuble struggled to adjust to Bruce Boudreau’s more up-tempo style, which is far different then the system Stevens utilized with the Flyers.
“At the beginning the season [it was] just some detail stuff,” said Knuble of adjusting to Boudreau’s system. “It takes a little while and sometimes you’re in one system for a long time and one train of thought, it takes a little while to change gears because you learn to see the game a certain way and now you have to learn to see the game in a different way. So, it takes a little time sometimes.”
Through the first 19 games of the season, Knuble had just five goals and 10 assists as he continued to adjust to Boudreau’s system and the Capitals continued to tinker with the forward line combinations.
It also didn’t help that Knuble missed 12 games from November 14 to December 9. Knuble broke a finger in his left hand in the first period of the Capitals November 13 victory over the Minnesota Wild, which required surgery.
Though the injury tested Knuble’s patience, it never affected his confidence in his abilities.
“As a player it’s not like you feel like you’re not the same player you used to be,” said Knuble of the injury. “You miss a dozen games and it’s like you’re starting the season over, and through the holiday’s, to be honest, I came back out of shape a little bit. I had to do some extra skating, and do a little extra biking. Maybe the results would’ve happened even if I wasn’t trying to get in shape, but I feel like I did something proactive away from the ice and it translated to the ice.
Knuble also acknowledged talking to Boudreau about keeping the forward lines the same. The Capitals second, third and fourth lines have also put up impressive numbers during the team’s current hot streak, which prompted Knuble to speak to his coach.
“We had personnel meetings half way through the year and discussed how things were going, and I probably expressed my frustration that things had not gone as well as I had hoped,” said Knuble of his talk with Boudreau. “I’ve just seen the last few year’s coaches are really sticking the same guys together, it’s not always about poking guys and trying to motivate them by moving a guy to the top line and moving another guy to the third line. You can’t have three of the same type of guys on the same line, so you want to get guys that do different things and that can work together. So, we’ve obviously gotten some results and I think Bruce is following the combinations.”
Knuble’s aggressive style of play hasn’t been more apparent than this past Tuesday in the Capitals 7-2 win over the New York Islanders. After being stopped on a semi breakaway by Islanders goaltender Dwayne Roloson, Knuble wacked at the puck numerous times before finally jamming it through Roloson’s pads and into the net.
Knuble said he hopes his aggressive style of play has rubbed off on his teammates.
“Hopefully that feeds to other guys,” said Knuble. “Brooks [Laich] does stuff like that and Eric Fehr is scoring around the net a little bit. Everyone loves the pretty goals, but you have to get some of the ugly ones to.”