On a night when little went right for the Rangers, at least their big offseason acquisition impressed.
Rick Nash, who was acquired from the Blue Jackets, scored his first goal as a Ranger, in a 6-3 loss to the Penguins last night at the Garden.
“[The goal] doesn’t mean much,” Nash said. “If it helped up win, helped us tie it then it would mean a lot. I’d rather have the two points than the goal.”
After a Stu Bickel roughing penalty put the Rangers short-handed with 6:37 left to play in the third period, Nash came out to help kill the penalty. Derek Stepan swiped the puck away at center ice, and the short-handed break was on.
Nash took a feed from Stepan, deked across the goal mouth and put home an easy goal to bring the Rangers within two goals. Nash’s goal was one of the few bright spots on an otherwise dismal night.
“It wasn’t enough tonight,” Nash said. “There were glimpses of it throughout points of the game, but in this league you have to put together 60 minutes if you want to win games.”
It was Nash’s first shorthanded goal since Feb. 26 of last year, when he also netted one against the Penguins.
Despite the loss, Nash dazzled for the majority of the night, drawing oohs and ahhs from a sellout crowd. Nash finished with a team-high four hits and five shots on goal in 19:26 of ice time.
“He’s probably been our best player,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said. “I’m not too interested in singling out players but he’s the real thing, you can see that.”
It was the second time yesterday Tortorella had spoken highly of Nash. Earlier, he had called the 28-year-old winger “the full package” and lauded him for his ability to play on the penalty-killing unit, which showed against Pittsburgh.
“We’re trying using him killing penalties, I think he’s picked that up pretty quickly as far as how we do it,” Tortorella said. “He’s going to be a pretty big part.”
Quickly assuming a role as a veteran leader, Nash tried to dismiss the idea the Rangers are in panic mode following back-to-back losses, but did acknowledge the team needs to adjust quickly because of the lockout-shortened season.
“I don’t think we’re pushing the panic button, but it’s not the start we wanted and we have to get back to work,” Nash said. “There are a lot of mistakes out there that we have to correct. It’s a short season so we have to correct them fast and make sure we come back better.”