Former New York Rangers star Rick Nash joined a hot Bruins team down the stretch. Now six games into the playoffs, he is struggling to produce again.
Where have we heard this story before?
Rick Nash, who the New York Rangers traded to the Boston Bruins at the NHL trade deadline this past February, looked good with his new team early on. In 11 regular season games with the Bruins, the 33-year-old notched three goals and three assists on a line with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk.
After sustaining a concussion in a 3-0 win against Tampa Bay on March 17th, Nash was sidelined for the rest of the regular season, missing Boston’s final 12 games.
Nash returned to the Bruins’ lineup for game one of the playoffs against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins won the game 5-1 and he looked okay in his first game back from the injury.
Game two was even more promising for the veteran. Nash notched his first playoff goal in Beantown in a 7-3 thumping of the Leafs.
The Bruins later went up in the series 3-1 after splitting games three and four in Toronto.
And now the wheels are starting to fall off.
The Maple Leafs have won the last two games, including last night’s affair, to knot the series at three.
When you look down at the score sheet for the series, you will notice that Nash, who has 22 shots on net in six games –he is 11th in the league in that stat. But you will also notice that the 6-foot-4 winger has only one point; his goal in game two.
And now Nash finds himself in a position where he’s been a whole lot over the past seven seasons: the media’s dog house.
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There has already been an article written about Nash’s playoff struggles on NBCSports.com. It has the same underlying theme as every other Rick Nash playoff article: there are big expectations for the power forward to meet and while shots on goal are nice, he needs to capitalize.
Going back to his days with the Rangers, Nash has only scored two goals in his last 14 playoff games. In 83 career playoff games, he has tallied just 16 goals and 42 points. Those numbers aren’t bad, but not good enough for a player like Nash who has been a multi-time All Star in this league.
You know, it’s funny. When he was here, playing in New York, the fan base was completely split on him as a player. One half of the fan base thought he was garbage and a waste of money. The other thought that he was still a star player.
Both, in my opinion were wrong. Nash is a solid complementary player who can’t be relied on to score the big goal. He’s a very good defender and an overall solid middle-six forward. Nothing more, nothing less.
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The Bruins thought they were getting a star forward. They were mistaken, and if the Bruins lose game seven to the Leafs, the Rangers will be laughing all the way to the draft floor.