Beagle bites Rangers in Game 3
Holtby nets shutout, Nash still firing blanks as Caps take series lead
WASHINGTON — On the morning of Game 3, reporters and teammates each took turns trying to convince Rick Nash, the third-highest goal-scorer in the NHL this season, that scoring goals was not really important. That it was the little things, like providing a screen for a powerplay goal or winning puck battles along the boards or just playing sound defensive hockey that makes the difference.
It was a gesture that made the New York Rangers forward smile, if not laugh out loud.
“Thanks for noticing that,” said Nash, who after Monday night’s 1-0 loss to the Washington Capitals remains with just one goal during these playoffs. “I appreciate the positives.”
About this time a year ago, there were no positives from a drought that saw New York’s $7.8-million US star forward finish the playoffs with three goals in 25 games. Fans at home booed him after he went the first two rounds without a goal. When he finally did score, the headline in the New York Daily News read, “Hell freezes over.”
It is easy to carry that criticism into this year, especially with Washington’s Alex Ovechkin having already scored two GIF-ready goals and having set up the winner in Game 1 against the Rangers. But the 30-year-old Nash, who said the disappointment of going the entire Stanley Cup Final without a goal stayed with him all summer, seems a bit wiser this time around.
“I’ve been through this before,” said Nash, who has not scored since Game 2 of the first round. “The negative doesn’t get you anywhere. I feel like all the negatives come from (the outside). In here, we’re positive (goals) will go in.”
This has been a difficult year for scoring goals. The NHL failed to have a single player reach the 90-point mark for the first time in a season — not including those shortened by a labour dispute — since 1967-68. That trend has carried into the playoffs, where Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin went without a point in the first round, Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos went without a goal in his first eight games and Chicago’s Marian Hossa has yet to score. On Monday, goals were hard to come by again as goaltender Braden Holtby stopped all 30 shots he faced to give Washington a 2-1 series lead. Capitals third-line forward Jay Beagle scored the only goal of the game on a wraparound that appeared to bank in off New York defenceman Keith Yandle’s skate.
Nash, who scored 42 goals in the regular season (third only to Ovechkin’s 53 and 43 by Stamkos), has been getting a steady diet of Washington defencemen Brooks Orpik and John Carlson in the second round and has mostly kept to the perimeter where he is least dangerous. “They’re boxing out,” he said. Still, the Brampton, Ont., native is making a difference. In a 3-2 win against the Capitals in Game 2, he took away Holtby’s eyes with a screen on Dan Boyle’s shot from the point. Heading into Monday’s game, he led the Rangers with 25 shots — six more than the next player on the team — and was tied with Derick Brassard with five points.
For now, the Rangers can afford to let Nash slowly find his scoring touch. As the playoffs continue, however, more pressure will be placed on every team’s star player to perform. With opposing teams devising plans to lock down the top scoring threats, New York will need secondary scorers to contribute.
“Each team has guys that have that ability to find the open space and make it very challenging on the defence,” said Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault. “What we’re trying to do to their skilled players is the same thing that they’re trying to do to ours.”