Rangers' Nash among best pure goal-scorers

Game after game, New York Rangers radio broadcaster Dave Maloney talks about Rick Nash's ability to check the puck back, to play on the inside, in front or behind the net, to dart around the slot, and to find a way to make a play with the puck in tight despite his size that results in a goal.

Rarely does Maloney have to look around for people helping Nash do what he does, even though they are there. Rarely does Maloney have to give credit to someone else for creating the opportunity for Nash, even though every player needs a little bit of assistance.

"A lot of what Nash gets is the result of what he does," Maloney told NHL.com. "[Derick] Brassard and [Derek] Stepan are smart, really good puck movers, but you could have an all-time puck mover play with Nash and he'd be the same as he is right now."

That makes Nash the most unique goal-scorer in the League and his ability to connect this season has put him in the conversation with Alex Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos as the best pure goal-scorers in the League.

Whereas the conversation included Ovechkin and Stamkos for the past five seasons, Nash has barged his way in by scoring 38 goals in a variety of ways.

Instead of relying on an overpowering shot off the rush or a one-timer from a set position, Nash has had the best ability of any player this season to create scoring chances regardless of where he is on the ice and regardless of the situation in the game, be it 5-on-5, power play or penalty kill.

Ovechkin leads the NHL with 43 goals, but Nash leads with 29 even-strength goals, including three empty-net goals. Nash is tied for the League lead with four shorthanded goals. He has five power play goals. Ovechkin has 19 power play goals. Stamkos has 10.

"I would say he's the most unique goal-scorer in the NHL right now simply because of the fact that people don't give him enough credit for how well he's playing on both sides of the puck," NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes said. "He's not cheating the puck to score. He's not cheating position or coverage to score. Look at the breakaway he had the other night against Nashville. He starts on the right side of the puck in the defensive zone. He's in the lane. He blocks a shot from Seth Jones and then he's off to the races. He had the toe pick, but what I liked about it is you just see that he doesn't have to take chances to get chances. There is an integrity to the way that he plays all the time. He doesn't have to seek and search.

"It is a little bit atypical of an elite goal-scorer, but it goes to show that defensive responsibility and caring on the other side of the puck doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. You can do all of those things and yet still score. Obviously he's an elite combination."

St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock credited Nash's anticipation as the key factor in his ability to create off of his defense.

"When you play against him it makes you nervous because his anticipation allows him to get those odd-man rushes and scoring opportunities," said Hitchcock, who coached Nash when he was with the Columbus Blue Jackets. "If you're careless or cavalier with the puck, he makes you pay. He's the poster child for checking for chances. That's what he does. His checking is really dialed up and he's getting a ton of scoring chances because of it."

Hitchcock said Stamkos does a lot of the same things Nash does but doesn't get enough credit for them.

"He's really strong on the puck and he strips people," Hitchcock said.

The difference is Stamkos has his one-timer as a weapon. Nash's best weapon is his ability to play the puck in tight areas in front of the net despite being 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds.

"He's got flexibility in his upper body to somehow be turning one direction with the lower body and still going," Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "He's got an ability to knock down pucks that make your 'D' look bad when they try to pass it past him. He has way better instincts defensively then people give him credit for. He's exceptional around the net."

But Nash doesn't park himself in front of the net. He slashes and dashes to the front, behind and to the sides to find soft spots in a tight area. He has scored 24 goals with his backhand, some of which are included in his 14 tip-in goals. He rarely scores from distance.

"He does not shoot the puck in the net a lot," former Pittsburgh Penguins coach and part-time NHL Network analyst Dan Bylsma said. "He scores by driving to the net."

The result is Nash has scored the majority of his goals this season from inside the home-plate area, which extends from the posts diagonally up to the defensive zone faceoff dots and then the top of the circles and connected by an imaginary line that stretches across to form what looks like a home plate in baseball.

"You see him coming around the back of the net or coming out to cut off the seam or going forehand-backhand score or backhand to forehand and then beating a goalie wide," Bylsma said. "But he doesn't really shoot a lot of pucks in the net. He gets there with his speed and size and scores a lot of goals because of his reach. Other players are not successful at doing that, that's for sure."

Rick Nash

Left Wing - NYR

GOALS: 38 | ASST: 21 | PTS: 59
SOG: 229 | +/-: 24

"I don't think his shooting percentage is exaggerated because he shoots so close to the net," Bylsma said. "I can't even picture him one-timing the puck."

Nash was further away from the net last season and scored on 26 of his 258 shots (10.1 percent). He has 38 goals on 229 shots this season.

"It's north of 16 percent now and sometimes for a shooter who shoots it in the net, that's a little bit high and that's a little bit lucky, but he doesn't take a lot of unwarranted shots," Bylsma said. "He does a lot of driving to get there with his speed and size. It doesn't matter if it's 5-on-5 or when he's killing a penalty, he still has that speed and step and scores the goal the same way."

Nash has had the ability to score goals in these ways since he played for Hitchcock and the coach made him accountable in the neutral zone and defensive zone by inserting him on the penalty kill. But the Rangers hadn't seen Nash doing it at this level until this season.

Nash scored 21 goals in 44 games in his first season with the Rangers, but was held back by coach John Tortorella's shot-blocking, defensive system that didn't allow the Rangers to play with the speed they're playing with now. He also sustained a concussion in February of that season.

Nash had a second concussion early last season that proved to be a mental block he couldn't overcome. He unwittingly became a checker and a perimeter player. He scored 26 goals in 57 regular season games, but only three in 25 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Nash shot 3.6 percent in the playoffs, typically a sign of being unlucky, but regardless of luck, that number was going to be low based on where he was shooting from.

"He is opportunistic, he's not a volume guy," Weekes said. "Everybody has to play to their strengths no matter who you are. For Ovi to be more of an in-tight, netfront guy more than a shooting guy, he'd be playing out of rhythm. Whereas for Nash, last year during the playoffs he was a 30-foot shot guy, and he was playing out of rhythm. Now he's playing within the game that he needs to play to be successful and to be great. He's been awesome this year."

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