The combination of Rick Nash and disputes over hockey sticks caused quite a few problems in Columbus on Friday night.
Rick Nash strikes back in the battle for hockey sticks
If you try to take a hockey player’s hockey stick, bad things are going to happen.
After the Rangers' forward got into it with Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky at the end of the second period (Bobrovsky faked giving Nash his stick back, Nash pushed him in the throat), Nash decided to get some revenge by refusing to let go of Matt Calvert's stick off the opening faceoff to start the third period.
Once again, it resulted in people trying to punch each other.
Both players received two minutes for roughing and five minutes for fighting.
Entertaining as this might be, it’s also incredibly dumb on Nash’s part. He is not only one of the Rangers’ best players, this is also a huge game in the standings with playoff spots on the line. Him spending several minutes in the penalty box to start the third period, in what was a tie game at the time, is not really ideal to the Rangers’ cause. Especially since Nash has had a history of concussions over the past few years, which should make him probably want to avoid putting himself into situations where he might get punched in the face.
In the end, though, it didn’t hurt the Rangers as they were able to pick up a 3-1 win and move back into third place in the Metropolitan Division. Columbus falls into the final Wild Card spot for the time being.
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