Rick Nash.....1 goal in 20 NYR playoff games

[Miller Time NYR]

Hoping a less physical team like the pens will give guys like MSL and Nash more room to operate, if Nash has the room the drive wide and build up speed I think he will get better chances, not to mention Fleury is very beatable. Hopefully once Nash pots one the monkeys off his back and he'll start scoring more, if Nash can somehow find another gear in this series it will go a long way to us being able to match the pens offensive output.

 

[poeman]

I just don't get it, Rangers won the series, Nash played very well, What's the issue here?

See thread title

 

[Cassano]

People have way too high expectations for a pertinent failure.

 

[Trxjw]

I assume that his lack of goal scoring won't be an issue if the team loses the next series and he is once again missing from the goal column of the scoresheet.

Some people just don't like to skirt an issue because we managed to barely squeak out a series win.

 

[slipknottin]

I just don't get it, Rangers won the series, Nash played very well, What's the issue here?

He played well all series, didnt think he really elevated his game until game 7.

Hopefully he continues playing like he did in game 7, if he does he is going to put up a lot of points.

 

[AlternateSideParking]

I swear the Rangers employ people to post here.

Fine.

The Rangers were dominant in the series. Nash was a star. Lundqvist stole all four wins. McDonagh played like Bobby Orr.

 

[Leonardo87]

See thread title

If the Rangers win, who cares whether it's Carcillo or Nash who scores.

My points is Rangers win, and people still scapegoat someone for not scoring a goal. I just believe in two-way hockey, and to me goals are nice of course, but you also have to defend against them also. I criticized Nash for being a one way forward in the beginning of the season. Now with him getting physical, blocking shots, back-checking, killing penalties, and etc he has earned more respect from me. It's the floating around doing nothing, like Gaborik used to do that annoyed me. Gabi could score goals, but if he did not he was pretty useless. Nash has shown that he can be very effective even if he is not showing up on the score sheet.

 

[Miller Time NYR]

If the Rangers win, who cares whether it's Carcillo or Nash who scores.

My points is Rangers win, and people still scapegoat someone for not scoring a goal. I just believe in two-way hockey, and to me goals are nice of course, but you also have to defend against them also. I criticized Nash for being a one way forward in the beginning of the season. Now with him getting physical, blocking shots, back-checking, killing penalties, and etc he has earned more respect from me. It's the floating around doing nothing, like Gaborik used to do that annoyed me. Gabi could score goals, but if he did not he was pretty useless. Nash has shown that he can be very effective even if he is not showing up on the score sheet.

Nobody is discrediting his defensive abilities, he is a great two way forward and plays some pk time, but he doesn't carry a 7.8 million dollar cap hit to be a good defensive first liner, the series could have been over a lot sooner had Nash been the dominate player he has been at times for us, and he's going to need to keep up his level of play from game 7 if we have any chance against the pens.

 

[NYR94]

From Scott Cullen, TSN's stat guy:

In the end, the Rangers held the puck possession edge and, even though he didn't score a goal in the series, Rick Nash was at the forefront of driving play. The Rangers deserved their win, though the strong goaltending performance by Mason made it a close series.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/story/?id=450940&hubname=nhl-wild

Nash is not scoring, but the team is getting chances when he's on the ice and others are putting the puck in the net. The question is, how long can the Rangers go if his line mates start to struggle and he still hasn't made it onto the score sheet?

Stepan has 2 goals in 7 games, for .29 goals per game. His career playoff goals per game before this year is .14, so he's scoring at double his usual pace. How long will he keep this up? St. Louis could have trouble maintaining his usual pace of about 1 goal scored every 2 playoff games considering his age, but so far has looked good.

Doesn't change the fact that Nash is due, and with a Rangers team whose defense usually keeps them in games, just one goal could be a difference maker. It's not like people are expecting him to score every night. But on nights when his teammates can't contribute, the pressure will be on him to score and I don't think the Rangers can beat the Penguins if he goes 0-for-the series again like he did against Philadelphia.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

I assume that his lack of goal scoring won't be an issue if the team loses the next series and he is once again missing from the goal column of the scoresheet.

Some people just don't like to skirt an issue because we managed to barely squeak out a series win.

Agreed. Nash is paid to score goals, period. Until he starts scoring goals, it'll be disappointing.

These offshoot platitudes about his Corsi rating or how he is a "great two-way forward" (which I completely disagree with, by the way), are really just distraction measures or excuses to gloss over the fact he doesnt have a goal.

 

[pld459666]

I'm with Hatrick.

If Nash is playing in the Pens series like he played last night and still not scoring, while that would suck, it's (to me) acceptable. He played his tuckus off last night and just did not get a goal.

That said, I get the other side of the coin here as well. Dude is pulling elite level money to be an elite level player. 1 in 18 is piss poor and there's no disputing that, I don't care what stats you throw at me, or who you you compare him to.

However, I like the depth of the team alot more than in the past. I like that we have not needed to rely on Nasher to score goals to win games.

If he continues to be the impact player in the Pens game that he was last night and still isnt scoring, I'll be disappointed, but accepting of it.

He's starting to look more snake bitten at this point.

 

[NikC]

If the Rangers win, who cares whether it's Carcillo or Nascriticismcores.

My points is Rangers win, and people still scapegoat someone for not scoring a goal. I just believe in two-way hockey, and to me goals are nice of course, but you also have to defend against them also. I criticized Nash for being a one way forward in the beginning of the season. Now with him getting physical, blocking shots, back-checking, killing penalties, and etc he has earned more respect from me. It's the floating around doing nothing, like Gaborik used to do that annoyed me. Gabi could score goals, but if he did not he was pretty useless. Nash has shown that he can be very effective even if he is not showing up on the score sheet.

It took a while before Hossa became a playoff goal scorer. He recieved alot of the same criticisms.

 

[ltrangerfan]

I swear the Rangers employ people to post here.

Fine.

The Rangers were dominant in the series. Nash was a star. Lundqvist stole all four wins. McDonagh played like Bobby Orr.

Other than I thought Mason outplayed Lundy you've got it exactly right.

 

[haveandare]

I assume that his lack of goal scoring won't be an issue if the team loses the next series and he is once again missing from the goal column of the scoresheet.

Some people just don't like to skirt an issue because we managed to barely squeak out a series win.

Some people like to "skirt" an issue because this place is a non-stop moan fest 99% of the time, and the team just won a playoff round in a high-pressure game 7 in which Nash played very well. If we can't take half a second to be happy now, what's the point of paying any attention ever?

 

[Blueshirt Special]

If the Rangers win, who cares whether it's Carcillo or Nash who scores.

My points is Rangers win, and people still scapegoat someone for not scoring a goal. I just believe in two-way hockey, and to me goals are nice of course, but you also have to defend against them also. I criticized Nash for being a one way forward in the beginning of the season. Now with him getting physical, blocking shots, back-checking, killing penalties, and etc he has earned more respect from me. It's the floating around doing nothing, like Gaborik used to do that annoyed me. Gabi could score goals, but if he did not he was pretty useless. Nash has shown that he can be very effective even if he is not showing up on the score sheet.

Uh for the record, a lot of the criticism came after the game 6 loss and the realization that his numbers suck after 18 PO Games. Rangers made a big commitment to bringing this guy in. Expecting him to be more than "pretty good" is perfectly reasonable. He was much better in Game 7, but that needs to be the beginning of a trend that equates into a crescendo in the playoffs. He's got to keep getting better. Or "elevate his game" as they say.

I've been frustrated with him for sure, but I'd love it if he truly became a "beast" as everyone likes to say. But I think it's more likely we will see that from MSL.

Nash is going to get his opportunity to play in a 2nd round for the 2nd time in 2 years. Let's see if he has learned anything. Or how much he wants it.

Show me Nash.

 

[Overcast]

If the Rangers win, who cares whether it's Carcillo or Nash who scores.

My points is Rangers win, and people still scapegoat someone for not scoring a goal. I just believe in two-way hockey, and to me goals are nice of course, but you also have to defend against them also. I criticized Nash for being a one way forward in the beginning of the season. Now with him getting physical, blocking shots, back-checking, killing penalties, and etc he has earned more respect from me. It's the floating around doing nothing, like Gaborik used to do that annoyed me. Gabi could score goals, but if he did not he was pretty useless. Nash has shown that he can be very effective even if he is not showing up on the score sheet.

Had Nash scored even 2 goals, maybe the series doesn't go to 7 games and they close out a series in 5-6 games for the first time in 6 years. It's great the Rangers are finding ways to win and other guys are stepping up and seeing Richie play at a noticeably higher level, but that's in spite of Nash, not because of him. I guess I can't complain that at least he's not a liability/is now a PK specialist+defensive forward when he's on the ice since apparently that's all there is to expect from an 8mil/year guy expected and brought in to provide goal-scoring.

 

[n8]

our defense is very good and theirs is pretty questionable and they say defense wins championships but scoring a ****-ton of goals can sometimes win too which the Pens can do. 5 of 6 games vs Columbus were 4-3 games. We can typically win most games when we spot Henke 3 goals so so long our defense holds, we have a good chance to win this. I think we'll need Nash scoring to get past the Pens. He can definitely be the difference maker here. It'll surely be a battle!

 

[Dr. Ogrodnick]

I'm with Hatrick.

If Nash is playing in the Pens series like he played last night and still not scoring, while that would suck, it's (to me) acceptable. He played his tuckus off last night and just did not get a goal.

That said, I get the other side of the coin here as well. Dude is pulling elite level money to be an elite level player. 1 in 18 is piss poor and there's no disputing that, I don't care what stats you throw at me, or who you you compare him to.

However, I like the depth of the team alot more than in the past. I like that we have not needed to rely on Nasher to score goals to win games.

If he continues to be the impact player in the Pens game that he was last night and still isnt scoring, I'll be disappointed, but accepting of it.

He's starting to look more snake bitten at this point.

That's the thing though. He hasn't played 18 games like last night in the playoffs. He's played 1. Maybe a couple of others that are close to that. But in the vast majority he's been mostly a passenger. I'd love to see last night's Rick Nash for the rest of the playoffs, but it seems much more likely he'll disappear again, maybe pop up for an intense shift in game 4.

 

[Cake or Death]

Some people like to "skirt" an issue because this place is a non-stop moan fest 99% of the time, and the team just won a playoff round in a high-pressure game 7 in which Nash played very well. If we can't take half a second to be happy now, what's the point of paying any attention ever?

Thank you.

 

[Ola]

It's great the Rangers are finding ways to win and other guys are stepping up and seeing Richie play at a noticeably higher level, but that's in spite of Nash, not because of him.

The thing is, this is just not true.

Nash has been behind, what, 20-25% of the goals we have scored.

He is an essential part of our first line that on home ice, when we had the match-up, pwned Phillys first line.

He has worked hard and created chances all games all series.

Yes he hasn't finnished "alibi" hits all games all series, but it's well documented that he hasn't done it since his concussion problems (compare his hits/game stat before and after, it went from plus 1 to like 0.15 or whatever). And yes it's a part of the game yada yada yada. But it's far from a disaster if you carry one forward that don't finnish all hits on a D after the puck is moved. Just look at any roster, there are a BUNCH of awsome players who don't have a hit per game.

Nash was not good in the POs last season, not after like G2-3 against Washington at least. I just have a hard time believe that he wasn't injured. He acted really awkwardly all those games. He scrambled to avoid going into the boards in certain ways etc.

But to say that we are winning games this year despite of Nash rather than him being a factor is just silly and childish.

 

[mike14]

People have way too high expectations for a pertinent failure.

do you mean 'perennial'?

 

[KreiMeARiver*]

do you mean 'perennial'?

I think he means imminent.

 

[Chief]

Sidney Crosby is goalless in this year's playoffs and 0 for his last 10 playoff games, dating back to last season.

 

[McDunna with Fries]

I think he means imminent.

hahahaha great avatar.

 

[Trxjw]

Some people like to "skirt" an issue because this place is a non-stop moan fest 99% of the time, and the team just won a playoff round in a high-pressure game 7 in which Nash played very well. If we can't take half a second to be happy now, what's the point of paying any attention ever?

Some people can have an intelligent discussion about the negatives, while still being pleased with a series win. If you think my happiness is somehow non-existent because I'm concerned about Nash's lack of goal scoring, well, then I really don't know what to tell you. You're simply misinformed.

The thread is about Nash's lack of scoring. If you think his otherwise decent play absolves him of that, then good for you, but don't pass the analysis of others off as a "moan fest" just because you're "taking half a second to be happy". You came into a negatively titled thread related to a problem with a player, and you're upset about people taking a negative stance? Give me a break.