Bigfoot Rides The Loch Ness Monster

Rick Nash NYR (Hockey News)

Will we ever see a Rick Nash goal this post-season? Two goals. That sums up Rick Nash’s NHL playoff career. In 23 post-season games Nash has just two scores. Leaving us all mystified.

Surely, there is a logical explanation for this, right? The opposition must be focusing on him and simply shutting him down. Quite the contrary, Nash has 85 shots in those 23 games for a healthy average of 3.69 shots per game. That’s a mind boggling 2.4 shooting percentage. In contrast, he scores on 12.4% of his shots in the regular season over a span of 783 contests.

The answer has to be that he is simply not shooting from the high percentage areas. Extra Skater actually shows that for the playoffs this season, Nash’s shots are averaging 10 feet closer than in the regular season. 30.4′ to 20.5′ is a huge difference, but no goals to show for it.

At this point, I’m starting to feel like a cryptozoologist in search of a mythical beast. Where the hell is this Rick Nash that dominates and scores with such ease and beauty? Where’s the man who has amassed 336 career goals and is only 29 years of age? This is a future 500 goal scorer that couldn’t score on a soccer net with a pea in the playoffs!

Nash goals 2013/14 (sportingcharts.com)

This season, Rick Nash scored from the kill zone 21 times. That is the area in front of the net, below the circles and in between the dots. His shot selection in the playoffs have been coming from those areas, yet the drought continues.

At this point everything has happened for Rick Nash, except score. Shots trickle wide, posts are hit and goalies have made incredible stops on him. So what gives? Is Nash pressing to hard in the playoffs? If he is, there is no sign of frustration coming from #61.

In fact, he played a great game 7, registering 5 hits and key shot block late in the third. “In Game 7 you have to bring your best,” Nash told reporters after the contest. “We won and that’s all that matters.” When he was asked about scoring during this series, his response was simple “A goal would’ve been nice, but the win is better.”

So Rick Nash enters round two against the Penguins with zero goals this post season. Maybe he breaks out in monstrous fashion. Maybe he explodes and helps send the Penguins packing. Or maybe Bigfoot will rise out of center ice riding the Loch Ness Monster.

[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PceCe00qio4″]Game Seven Highlights – [/su_youtube]

Anthony Scultore has been covering the New York Rangers and the NHL since 2014. His work also appears at... More about Anthony Scultore

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