Silverman: Time For Rangers' Nash To Play Like A Star

By Steve Silverman
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Now the hard work begins in earnest for the New York Rangers.

They learned that they could get through the first round against the Pittsburgh Penguins even though they never quite came up with their best effort. The Penguins played five hard games, but they did the expected in coming up on the short end in four of them.

But now the Rangers go up against a team that has gotten excellent direction from a real coach, and a team that plays a hard and nasty style. It's similar to the one the Rangers used to play under John Tortorella and one that they can still play if they have to, but it is not their preferred game.

When the Washington Capitals come to Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, they will have put their seven-game victory over the Islanders in the rear-view mirror. It took a sensational goal by Evgeny Kuznetsov late in the do-or-die finale to eliminate the Islanders, and now Barry Trotz has his team completely focused on beating the Rangers.

The Capitals skate well, but they don't move nearly as well as the Rangers. If they are going to have a chance to beat New York, it's going to be with a physical and aggressive style that features defensemen like Brooks Orpik, Matt Niskanen and Karl Alzner who can really throw their weight around and cause problems. Additionally, right wing Tom Wilson is like a heat-seeking missile because he flies around the ice looking for opponents to punish.

Does he cross the line? He comes awfully close, and the Capitals wouldn't have it any other way. They need him to put the fear into opposing players to keep them from skating with impunity.

Wilson is a 21-year-old guy who is not much of a threat to score. He had 17 points (four goals and 13 assists) in the regular season and he did not so much as even sniff the scoreboard against the Islanders, but he is not a passenger. He skates with passion and he is fearless on the ice.

If he can send a message to the Rangers and make them think twice as they come into the Washington zone, he will do just that.

Alain Vigneault has to get New York prepared to play at another level. While his team dispatched the Penguins, it was more of a problem than a five-game series should be. They simply couldn't shake the Penguins as all four victories came with the same 2-1 score, and two of those wins came in overtime.

Derick Brassard (three goals) and Carl Hagelin (two goals) were the only Rangers to light the lamp more than once. That's fairly troubling since they were going up against goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, and his recent playoff record had been fairly abominable.

Rangers fans know they need to get the offense going and playing productively like it did in the regular season. The coaches are not oblivious to this, and if they are going to beat the Capitals and keep marching toward a Stanley Cup this spring, much of that offense is going to have to come from Rick Nash.

While Nash scored 42 goals this year and was everything the Rangers expected – and needed – him to be this year, he has scored four goals in his last 20 games. Nash has not scored two goals in a game since Feb. 2 in a Rangers victory over the Florida Panthers.

This has to turn around if the Rangers are going to survive against the Caps and go even further in the playoffs.

There are a lot of fed up fans who are tired of waiting for Nash to get hot again. This is the most important time of the year, and having a big-time scorer who lights it up in the first half of the season but starts to fade after the Super Bowl is not the way to win friends and influence people.

Certainly, it's not all on Nash. The Rangers need more from Chris Kreider, Marty St. Louis, Derek Stepan, Kevin Hayes and J.T. Miller. But Nash has to do his part and start finding a way to beat Capitals goalie Braden Holtby.

If the Rangers are going to be victorious in May and June, they need their best players to be their best players. That means Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan McDonagh, Dan Girardi, Brassard and St. Louis.

And one more guy named Nash, who has the size, strength, power and finesse to carry the Rangers all the way to glory.

If he's going to play like a star, this is the time to step forward.