Mike Knuble has made no secret of his frustration at being in and out of the lineup the second half of this season. The veteran winger might not have much time left in his NHL career and he certainly doesn’t want to spend it sitting in the press box in a suit. Knuble will play left wing against Boston in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals tonight. He hasn’t played since April 5 in the second-to-last regular season game.
Knuble will join forward Joel Ward and center Keith Aucoin on the fourth line. The two wingers, Ward and Knuble, have similar styles and should battle effectively with Boston’s third and fourth liners. But they aren’t exactly speed demons, either.
“You know how to jump back into it, and you just do what you’ve always done,” Knuble said. “You can be effective, I think, as a line. Our goal’s going to be log some time in the offensive zone. I think that’s something that we can provide, something we can do. We tilt the ice. That’s your job. Play in their end.”
Knuble has some experience at this. He broke his right thumb in Game 3 of last spring’s first-round series against the New York Rangers on April 17 – it actually happened on what became the game-winning goal – and returned in time to play Game 2 in the second round against Tampa Bay on May 1. This time again it will be two full weeks between games. Earlier in the season, Knuble was a healthy scratch three games in a row (Feb. 9 to Feb. 13), played the next four and then sat for six of seven (Feb. 24 to March 8). In all he was scratched 10 times in Washington’s final 29 games.
“Nobody likes coming in and not playing after two weeks, I’ll tell you that much,” Knuble said. “As a player you want to be in there right from the start. It’s a chance to come in and try and get something accomplished and try and even the series.
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