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Nash Leading By Example

Written by: Scott Vankoughnett on 10th March 2009

Rick Nash scored the first unassisted hat trick since Rocket Richard did it in 1948 | read this item

If the Columbus Blue Jackets hope to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history they’ll need Rick Nash to keep playing the way he did last week.

The Brampton ON, native had four goals and two assists as Columbus earned four of a possible six points. Saturday marked the second time this season that Nash recorded a hat trick. Both ironically were on the road against the league heavy weight Detroit Red Wings. What makes the second hat trick even more special was the fact that all three goals were unassisted. Maurice “Rocket” Richard was the last person to achieve this, back in 1948.

“I didn’t really realize they were all unassisted till after the game,” said Nash in a conference call. “You think about it, it’s pretty tough to do. Even if you try to get an unassisted goal, usually one of your players always touches it.”

Nash is having a career season. He’s averaging over a point per game for the first time. He leads the Blue Jackets with 31 goals and 33 assists in 62 games. He also has four short-handed goals, an opportunity that he wasn’t getting earlier in his career.

“I didn’t kill penalties before Hitch got here,” said Nash. “When he got here, he explained to me he wanted me to be a complete player. That means on the ice in the last minute if we’re up a goal, down a goal, power play, and penalty kill. I just found some good success killing penalties.”

In his first full season as captain of the Blue Jackets, Nash says that with a younger team it’s important to have a younger leader for his teammates to talk to.

“You think about it, it’s pretty tough to do. Even if you try to get an unassisted goal, usually one of your players always touches it.”

“Yeah, I think it’s been good,” he said. “We have a younger group this year with kind of an older mix. All our older guys are tight with the younger guys.”

The Blue Jackets currently sit sixth in the Western Conference with 72 points. They are four points behind Vancouver for fifth and just two points up on ninth place Dallas.

There’s only four points separating fifth place Columbus from 11th place Anaheim. When playoff races get this tight the games become even more intense.

“You get a couple teams behind you, they have a three-point night, and they can pull a spot ahead of you or tie with you,” said Nash. “Every point is that valuable. We have to make sure we get as many points as we can.”

And, at the same time they have to make sure they don’t burn themselves out before the playoffs even start.

“Yeah, there’s really a fine line that we have to control,” agreed Nash. “We can’t get exhausted at the time when we have to be having our best games.”

The Blue Jackets continue to their playoff push tonight against the Boston Bruins and again on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. If the Blue Jackets want to assure themselves of a playoff spot they’ll need at least 20 points in the final 16 games of the season.

Topics: Columbus Blue Jackets, Maurice "Rocket" Richard, Rick Nash, Unassisted hat-trick