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Gretzky calls 3-on-3 OT 'best things in last 20 years'

Wednesday, 12.09.2015 / 6:56 PM / News

By Mike Battaglino - NHL.com Staff Writer

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Gretzky calls 3-on-3 OT 'best things in last 20 years'
Wayne Gretzky said he likes the new 3-on-3 overtime format in the NHL. "I think it's one of the best things we've done in hockey in the last 20 years," Gretzky told "Hockey Central" on Wednesday. "It's exciting for the fans. I know some of the players sort of complained about it, but I think all in all, most players like it.

Wayne Gretzky is an avid supporter of 3-on-3 overtime in the NHL.

"I think it's one of the best things we've done in hockey in the last 20 years," Gretzky told "Hockey Central" on Wednesday. "It's exciting for the fans. I know some of the players sort of complained about it, but I think all in all, most players like it.

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"I think it's fun for the game, and I think it's exciting," he added. "I think it's great to watch."

This season is the first for 3-on-3 overtime after 4-on-4 had been used since 1999-00. More games are ending in overtime than being decided in a shootout, one of the reasons the rule was adopted.

Going into play Wednesday, 65.3 percent of games needing overtime ended there (66 out of 101). Last season, it was 44.4 percent (136 of 306). Since the shootout was implemented in 2005-06, 43.2 percent of those games were decided in overtime.

Gretzky, the NHL's all-time leading scorer, a Hall of Fame member, and a four-time Stanley Cup winner, mused about what his powerful Edmonton Oilers teams of the 1980s could have done playing 3-on-3.

Gretzky, Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri and Mark Messier were so good at 4-on-4 caused by coincidental minor penalties that the rule was changed to keep those situations 5-on-5.

"You know, if you practice it you get better at it," Gretzky said. "Here we were, a team in Edmonton ... we practiced 4-on-4 every single day.

"We sort of mastered it, and instead of everybody grabbing hold of that and getting themselves on board, we changed the rule and said, 'OK, we're going to get rid of that,' because people thought we were taking coincidental penalties on purpose to get 4-on-4s, which was absolutely ridiculous, that never happened."

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