Riley Nash Out With Undisclosed Injury For Blue Jackets In Game 4 Vs. Bruins
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Riley Nash kicked off this second-round playoff series against his former team by delivering a punishing open-ice hit to David Krejci. Since then, he's seemingly been targeted by his former teammates with some heavy hits.
All of the physicality has apparently taken its toll, as Nash is not in the lineup for Columbus in Game 4 vs. the Bruins. Nash is out with an unspecified injury, and his status is considered day-to-day.
Nash's involvement in the physical side of this series came late in Game 1, when he delivered this hit to Krejci:
The Bruins won that game in overtime, but Krejci didn't step on the ice during the OT period, as he received some attention from the team trainers.
Krejci was questionable for Game 2, but he ended up playing. That didn't stop Zdeno Chara from delivering arguably his biggest hit of the entire season on the opening shift of the game:
Nash managed to shake off that hit from the massive Bruins captain, but late in the second period in Game 3, Nash was once again hit hard by a Bruins defenseman. This time, it was Charlie McAvoy delivering the hit:
Nash stayed in the game, but clearly, the residual damage of absorbing such hits is too much for any one man to take.
As a result of it all, Nash's dinner parties this week may have had a low turnout.
The 29-year-old forward has one goal and two assists in seven playoff games for Columbus. That's after a very disappointing regular season, when Nash had just three goals and nine assists in 78 games, one year after tallying 15 goals and 26 assists in his last season for the Bruins.
With a 2-1 lead in the series, the Blue Jackets dressed rookie Alexandre Texier in his place. Texier played just two regular-season games (with one goal) before suiting up for six playoff games (2-1-3 totals).
